


don’t you believe in fate?

by lostletterz



Category: Harry Potter - Fandom
Genre: Drarry, Fluff, M/M, PTSD, Secret Relationship, afterthewar, fallinginLove, slowburn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-14
Updated: 2019-03-12
Packaged: 2019-05-22 00:13:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 18
Words: 52,773
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14925680
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lostletterz/pseuds/lostletterz
Summary: a small café, a trip to America and the funny way that the universe connects us.





	1. Draco decides to become an atheist

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, so this is my first time posting any of my writing. It’s kinda like the first season of the office... it gets better after the first part. Other than that please leave comments, I’m always trying to do better :)

People are loud. Way louder than they should be at 10 a.m. on a Saturday morning, Draco thinks to himself. He briefly considers the fact that he may be acting slightly overdramatic. There are currently only five people in the café and, of those five, only three young teenagers are speaking every now and then over a breakfast of croissants and lattes. Draco has been singlehandedly running the small café that he and Hazel own for the last few months. Okay, not “singlehandedly” exactly. There are the three workers that come in later but, for the most part in the mornings Draco runs the cafe by himself. Draco was starting to wonder how much longer he could wake up so early before going insane, so he was extremely relieved when Hazel called him that morning to tell him that her water broke. Before Hazel got pregnant Draco could arrive at noon because Hazel is one of those strange “early bird” types. Something Draco will never understand. What kind of person can fully function before 10a.m.? So she was more than happy to run the shop on her own in the mornings. When she got pregnant and started working fewer hours she began apologizing to Draco for all the work she was leaving him. Especially when she had to stop work completely. It was completely unnecessary. Draco would do anything for her. So, after assuring Hazel (over and over) that “of course you don’t need to apologize you’re having a child for Christ’s sake” and then finally having to say, “Hazel I love you but if you apologize to me one more time I am going to throw this mug at you,” here Draco was. Hazel is Draco’s best friend and he is very happy for her, her husband Ben and, “their wonderful creation of life.” Right now though he really wishes that the “wonderful creation” could just pop out already so he could go back to sleeping. How long does it take to give birth? Draco wonders, making a mental note to google that. Then he takes another gulp of his coffee and prays that the five people in the café right now will leave without anyone else showing up and that Xander will show up soon to relieve him of acting as both barista and cashier. Once Xander arrives he can go to his office for a few hours and go over the inventory and make sure all the shipments are arriving on time. After a few minutes of day dreaming of his small, comfy, quiet office Draco hears the voices begin to lower as two of the five in the café (a couple) leave with the little bell ringing as the door opens and closes. Draco smiles to himself and thanks whatever god seemed to be listening to him. He checks his phone to see if there are any updates from Hazel when he hears the ring of the bell once more. He gives a silent cheer as he once again thanks whatever god was listening to him, thinking that the last three have finally left. That is, until he hears the words “what the bloody hell” and looks up. It is at this moment that Draco decides he is done believing in a God or gods because clearly it’s bullshit and he makes a decision right then to become atheist. Because seriously, what the fuck kind of god would allow Harry fucking Potter into his café?


	2. The lump named Harry

Harry blushes as he sees three teenagers glance up at him in surprise. He didn’t mean to have an outburst but when he walked into the small café in downtown San Francisco he hadn’t expected to see Draco Malfoy behind the counter sipping from a mug and tapping away at an iPhone like it was the most normal thing in the world. Draco looks up at him and something like exasperation crosses his face before he simply turns back to his phone. For a moment Harry just stands there. He hasn’t seen Draco Malfoy in 5 years. Not since the war. Draco never returned to Hogwarts. In fact he seemed to vanish after the trial. Now here he is, in America of all places. People had wondered what happened to the pale blond asshole and Harry can’t believe that out of the hundreds who were left scarred and hurting after the war, Draco Malfoy of all people just simply left as if nothing happened. He just ran away from all of it. He got a ticket out and never looked back. Harry can feel anger building as he thinks of how unfair all of it is. He clenches his fists and walks towards the counter not sure exactly what he plans to say, but then Draco glances up at him and says, “Harry. I see you’ve found my café. Now, exactly how long have you been stalking me?” Harry freezes. Draco’s tone isn’t harsh. It’s sarcastic, tired. Harry feels his anger slipping away but then he sees the mark. It’s faded and looks like a strange, messed up tattoo but just seeing it makes Harry grow warm with pure rage. He glares at Draco saying “Don’t fucking call me that Malfoy.” Draco looks up this time and says, “Excuse me? Call you what? Your name? You’ve got to be fucking kidding me Harry.” “I said don’t call me that,” Harry practically growls. Harry isn’t sure why but something about Draco using his first name makes him unbelievably angry. As if they were friends who hadn’t seen each other for a few days rather than enemies who had fought against each other during a war. As if they wouldn’t have been more than willing to kill the other a few years ago. Images of the war start flashing through his brain and he can’t concentrate anymore. He watches as Draco rolls his eyes with his hands raised, “Look Harry I would love to chat and catch up but as you can see I’m working so if you could not act like such a prat...” and that’s when everything seems to fall apart. It’s all too much. Echoes of the war fill his brain and fear and anger wash over Harry so intensely that the next thing Harry knows is he’s reaching across the counter and shoving Draco. The next few seconds seem to move in slow motion: the little bell on the door rings and Harry hears a man yelling at him. He turns around to see a huge man with dark hair... and that’s all Harry is able to comprehend because a second later he’s moving towards Harry and another second later he knocks Harry out. 

***

“Xander I’m having the strangest feeling of deja vu. It’s almost as if I’ve told you multiple times that punching people isn’t acceptable,” Draco drawls sarcastically, rubbing the arm that hit the side of the counter when Potter shoved him. Xander stops pacing the floor to look over at him. After Xander had punched Harry, and scared the last three customers away, Draco had retired to sitting on the floor as they waited for Harry to become conscious again. It had taken a few minutes to convince Xander that “,No he wasn’t trying to rob the store or kill me,” to which was replied to with “,Oh yeah Draco because him shoving you to the ground was an act of love that I misinterpreted.” Sighing Draco had mumbled something about how it was complicated while holding his head in his hands because he thinks he might have a mild concussion from hitting the ground. It’s been a few minutes and Xander hasn’t stopped pacing with his arms crossed glancing down at Harry every few seconds, arms tense like he’s prepared to knock him out again at the smallest sign of consciousness. At Draco’s words though he looks down to where Draco is sitting, “Haha. Well sorry but when you walk in to see some stranger shoving your friend off his feet your first thought isn’t ‘let me sit down with this man and have a rational conversation.’” Draco rolls his eyes and lifts his head from his hands, looking at the lump named Harry on the ground. It had been about five years since Draco had seen anyone from his past and he feels shaken up. “Seriously Draco are you okay?” Now Xander has stopped pacing completely and is walking over to sit on the ground next to him. Draco gives him a small smile. Xander really is sweet even if his first reply to any conflict is to punch the other person.

Xander is a huge man with tattoo sleeves on both arms, dark brown hair, piercing blue eyes and, anger issues mixed with an addiction to nicotine. He’s a year older than Draco and they met in a bar. Draco was there with Hazel, they were celebrating the opening of their store actually, and some asshole tried to slip something into Hazel’s drink. Xander beat the living shit out of aforementioned asshole as Hazel and Draco watched stunned, and Draco wondered how much damage pulling out his wand and hexing the seemingly rabid man would do, when Xander (aka rabid man) had turned, looked at Hazel and said, “Sorry you had to see that Miss but I think you should know that this asshole put something in your drink. I saw him drop it in a few minutes ago.” Hazel proceeded to dump her entire drink on the man and, though she’s only 5’4 and can’t weigh more than 120 pounds, it had taken both Draco and Xander to drag her out of the bar as she screamed about respect for women and repeatedly tried to lunge at the man. Once they had safely dropped Hazel off at her home and explained to her (then boyfriend) Ben what had happened they had sat down on the sidewalk to rest. Draco had thanked him for what he did and Xander just shrugged and said it was no big deal. A week later he happened to wander into their café and Hazel had nearly attacked him the minute he walked in. Hugging him and rambling about how grateful she was and how sorry she was that she had forgotten to thank him that night. Xander had just kind of stood there with his arms at his sides until Draco managed to extract Hazel and asked her to “please not sexually assault our customers in the café we finally managed to open.” After that Xander became a regular to their little café, then they became friends and eventually they hired him. He had been fired from his old job (a gas station down the street) and Draco and Hazel had been trying to steal him away for months. 

Draco begins to reassure Xander (once again) that he is fine but, halfway through the lump on the floor named Harry blinks its eyes open. Xander immediately tenses up and Draco just watches the lump as it rolls over and looks at him with emerald green eyes.


	3. Harry may or may not have assaulted Draco Malfoy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hellooo so I’m still figuring out format and stuff so I apologize for that. I’m also planning on making the chapters longer as the story continues so I’m not sure when my next update will be.

   Harry is trying to comprehend what is happening. Draco Malfoy is sitting on the ground with his arms wrapped around his knees and a man with dark hair is sitting next to Draco, staring at Harry across the floor with narrowed eyes. Harry blinks to get rid of the fuzziness that’s clouding up his vision and slowly sits up. Then he remembers: he walked into the cafe, saw Malfoy, and shoved him. _Bloody Hell Harry. Maybe Hermione’s right and I do have anger issues_ , Harry thinks to himself. Then he starts to feel his face warm. _Oh Merlin, I’m gonna have to apologize to the bastard._ He slowly turns to face Draco who is looking at him with a blank expression. He’s trying to work out exactly how to apologize when the man sitting next to Draco speaks up. “Hey D so... you want me to get rid of this guy or what?” Harry can’t help it, he lets out a little scoff when he hears that. Of course Malfoy would have someone else dealing with his shit for him. Just like when they were in school. He could never handle anything on his own. Harry becomes distracted as the man stands, crossing his arms. “You think something’s funny huh?” Harry subconsciously reaches for his pocket where his wand is. This guy is huge. 6’5 at least. He’s wearing black jeans and a grey sweater with the sleeves rolled up. Just enough to show intricate tattoos running up his arms. He has dark hair and his blue eyes are ice cold. Harry starts thinking about the physics of the situation. If the guy tries to move towards him, how fast can Harry pull out his wand and hex him? He’s thinking he’s got a pretty solid time frame when Malfoy speaks up. “For God’s sake Xan, I’m fine. I can take care of myself.” 

 

“D, I know I know, ‘violence isn’t the answer’ but come on we don’t know this dude _and_ he assaulted you. Plus you’re like a twig, if I hadn’t walked in you might have been seriously hurt.”

 

“Really Xander? I’ve just been _assaulted_ and you’re attacking my body. You’re body-shaming me. Tsk tsk, if Hazel heard you...”

 

“D you know I love you but cmon you’ve been sitting there rubbing your elbow for like 10 minutes, you barely hit it.”

 

“Excuse me? Well I’m sorry. I was shoved and it hit the counter, I wasn’t exactly planning on being assaulted today. I must have forgotten to write that down on my calendar this morning.”

 

“So you admit this dude assaulted you?”

 

“Really Xander?”

 

Harry is looking back and forth in bewilderment. Draco and this man seem to be... joking with each other? That can’t be right. Draco Malfoy doesn’t joke around with people. And what is this he’s going on about assault? Okay Harry might have shoved him but that’s hardly assault... it’s just... well... well it’s not assault. _Okay technically it was assault..._ Harry thinks, but that’s not the point, the point is that Malfoy and this man (Xander?) are still teasing each other. Malfoy is smiling... like genuinely smiling and chuckling every now and then and Harry can’t help but stare at him for a moment. He looks so different. So happy. His hair isn’t slicked down like it used to be. It’s a little wavy and it’s cut short on the sides. He’s wearing black ripped skinny jeans and a white t-shirt with the words “The Nightman Cometh” across the front in black cursive. He’s wearing white shoes that are covered in designs made up of different colors and words that Harry can’t make out. Then Draco suddenly glances over at Harry and as soon as their eyes meet his smile fades leaving his face a blank sheet of nothingness. The man named Xander notices his expression change and glances over at Harry. He had visibly relaxed while talking to Malfoy and he had stuffed his hands into his hoodie pocket but upon seeing Harry he tenses up again. _Okay Harry this is probably the time to say something_ he thinks to himself as he glances between Malfoy’s pale grey gaze of unsettling nothingness and his friends blue gaze that is so cold it’s almost as unsettling as Malfoy’s. Almost. So, taking a deep breath, Harry clears his throat.

 

***

“Um... hi?” Draco can’t help but roll his eyes when he hears the words out of Harry’s mouth. Getting to his feet and leaning against the counter he raises an eyebrow and says,”Seriously Potter? Oh wait do you prefer Harry? You know your actual name?” Crossing his arms Draco answers his own question “Oh actually never mind, now that I think about it, the last time I did that you shoved me. So, and I’m just taking a wild guess here, I’m assuming you prefer Potter am I correct?”

   This time he is addressing Harry, who is getting to his feet in a huff. “Are you done Malfoy? Look I’m sorry that I shoved you I just...” Harry trails off looking a bit lost. “I just didn’t expect to see you here is all,” he finishes.

 _Well I didn’t exactly expect Harry fucking Potter to walk into my store this morning either,_ Draco thinks to himself, taking a deep breath and exhaling towards the ceiling. Before he can reply, Xander cuts in, “Hold on. Draco you know this maniac?”

“Hey man, seriously?,” Harry lifts his hands up, “um I’m not a maniac.”

 

“Oh really so normal people go around shoving people, do they?”

 

“You punched me.”

 

“You shoved my friend.”

 

 _I’m seriously going to have a migraine if I let this continue_ Draco thinks just as his phone starts to ring.

    It’s Hazel. Shit. Hazel, baby, creation of life, shit. What is he going to say? Harry and Xander are still yelling at each other so Draco yells over the both of them to SHUT UP and then answers his phone, “hello love?” Draco glances up to see Xander mouthing “is it Hazel? Is she okay? Is it out yet?” And without answering takes a quick glance over at Harry who is looking at him as if he just sprouted two heads. “DRACO. ITS BEEN _HOURS_ AND THIS DAMN THING WON’T COME OUT. BEN IS GREAT, I LOVE HIM BUT RIGHT NOW I REALLY WANT TO PUNCH HIM IN THE FACE FOR GETTING ME PREGNANT. HOLY FUCK THIS HURTS. WHOSE IDEA WAS THIS?” Draco smiles a little to himself. Hazel has that effect on him. She can always make him feel better. Turning to the side and chuckling softly he replies, “Hazel, dear you are the one who wanted this. You’ve been talking about it for so long- “

“DRACO I DONT GIVE A FUCK YOU ASSHOLE OW OW OW YOU LUCKY BASTARD YOU DONT UNDERSTAND THE PAIN IM IN.” Draco is holding the phone a few inches from his head as Hazel screams through the phone. Xander and him glance at each other as she yells and then she abruptly hangs up. _Well then_... Draco thinks.

    “So Hazel’s doing good I presume?” Xander asks smirking at him.

    “Oh yes she’s doing lovely. She says she absolutely adores giving birth. Wishes it would last longer, in fact.” Then they burst out laughing.

    “Oh God,” Xander says catching his breath , “I fucking love Hazel. That girl really is something else.”Draco is still chuckling as he nods in agreement... and that’s when he remembers Harry. Harry who is standing awkwardly in front of him with this strange look on his face like he wants to say something but he can’t or won’t. Draco stops chuckling and after recovering says, “Hey Xan? Do you mind keeping an eye on the store? I think Harry and I should talk in private.” Xander looks between them and says “Fine.” He moves around the front of the counter shoving Harry with his shoulder as he passes. For a moment Harry looks like he’s gonna shove Xander but then thinks better of it. _Smart man_ , Draco thinks as he stands up. “Well come on Potter my office is just over here, he nods in the direction of the back of the café and then begins walking. Hoping Harry will follow and not try to do something stupid. He hears Harry trodding behind him, so apparently Harry has finally learned something from all of his many, many mistakes as a child. They get to Draco’s office and Draco opens the door and gestures for Harry to walk in. Just before he walks in he hears Xander yell from the front of the store,

  “Hey Draco, if that maniac tries to do anything, just yell. Those twig arms of yours are pretty useless so just let out a scream and I’ll come handle things for you. We wouldn’t want you to bruise another elbow. That might be life threatening,”

   Draco takes a moment to yell, “Hey, laugh all you want but just wait until I tell Hazel that you’ve been body-shaming me,” back at him.

   Draco realizes that he should apologize for his friend. For Xander punching Harry and then proceeding to call him a maniac and threatening to beat him up but, Draco isn’t really sorry. Potter did push him and Xander is just protective. Besides Potter is acting a bit like a maniac, though that’s not outside his usual character. Anyways, Draco can’t help but sigh as he realizes that, sorry or not, he’s going to have to apologize and he closes the door. Then he turns around to look at Harry Potter.

 

***

 

This is very uncomfortable. Harry has been in Draco’s office for about 3 minutes and neither of them have spoken. Malfoy is sitting behind a desk with a computer on it and several picture frames but Harry can’t see the pictures from where he’s standing. The office is small but cozy. There’s the aforementioned desk with a computer and there’s a sofa covered in pillows up against the opposite wall. On the wall behind Malfoy is a framed newspaper along with a framed photo of Malfoy and a beautiful woman. Harry has no idea who the girl in the picture is, she has brown hair and in the photo her arms are wrapped around Malfoy’s waist and he’s looking down at her with his arm around her shoulders. She’s smiling up at him and he’s smiling down at her. They’re standing in front of the café building. Harry wonders if that’s Malfoy’s girlfriend. They certainly look close in the photo. He’s distracted by Malfoy clearing his throat and Harry looks down.

   “Har- Potter, I want to apologize for my friend Xander. He thought you were trying to rob the café or something... he also has some slight anger problems if we’re being honest but, the point is I am very sorry that he punched you. I also want to apologize for not listening to you earlier. You asked me not to use your first name and I did anyways. I know we have a ... rough... history so I’m sorry. Although I have to admit I think it’s a bit ridiculous to address each other by our last names. I mean it’s been a long time and shoving me _was_ a bit of an overreaction in my opinion but-”

    Malfoy pauses when he glances up at Harry who has crossed his arms.

   “What a lovely apology. I’m so glad that we could work this out and agree that it was my fault,“ Harry snaps.

   “I didn’t mean to offend you,” Draco sighs, “I’m just being honest. I’m sorry if that’s not what you wanted to hear, but you’re an adult for Christ’s sake. I’m not going to sugarcoat things to make you feel better about yourself. You made a mistake.”

   “Oh. Really I made a mistake, did I?” Harry scoffs.

   Now Malfoy is crossing his arms on his desk and he stares at Harry carefully as he answers,

   “Potter. You came into my place of work, where I was working, there were customers here and, you shoved me off my feet because I called you by your first name.”

   Harry can feel himself start to blush as he stares at the ground. He really doesn’t want to admit it but Malfoy is right. Taking a deep breath and telling himself to just get it over with so he can leave and forget this ever happened Harry says, “Sorry, um sorry. I was just... surprised... I guess.” Malfoy raises an eyebrow and gestures for Harry to continue. “Yeah uh,” Harry looks down at the ground, “sorry for... shoving you and all that... I just was surprised to see you here...,” now Harry is looking at the ceiling, “and I guess it just... remindedmeofsomethings,” he mumbles. He glances down at Malfoy trying not to cringe. Malfoy opens his mouth to speak and then his phone starts to ring. He glances from Harry to the phone and saying “I’m very sorry but my friend is currently having a child and I think I need to answer this,” picks up the phone. Harry watches Malfoy and wonders how he’s going to explain to Ron why he’s been gone for so long and why he now has a black eye.

 

***

 

“Draco-,” Draco can hear Hazel holding back a sob through the phone. Shit shit shit. Every possible scenario of what could have gone wrong goes flying through Draco’s head. He flies out of his chair and immediately starts asking questions, “Hazel? Hazel? Hazel, darling are you okay?? Hazel, what’s wrong? Why are you crying? Is everything okay???” He hears Hazel make a choking sound and he runs out of the office calling for Xander, who immediately turns around and runs out from behind the counter. He’s looking at Draco, concern causing frown lines to appear and Draco puts his phone on speaker. Upon hearing Hazel’s choking sob Xander grabs the phone, “Hazel? It’s Xander. Hazel, please tell us what’s wrong. Hazel do you need us to come to the hospital?” Xander is already reaching for his keys when Hazel finally replies with a whimper,

   “Oh, I’m sorry guys I didn’t mean to scare you I just-“ she sniffles, “I’m a mom, you guys. I’m a mom.” And then they hear her begin crying again. With a small chuckle she says, “ wow I didn’t think I would be this emotional. You guys please get your sorry asses over here. I want you to meet my baby.” Hazel says the last part softly and starts sniffling again.

   Draco and Xander look at each other with wide smiles. Taking the phone from Xander, Draco tells Hazel that they’re on their way and after hanging up he turns to find Xander already putting up the sign that says “closed.”

   “Looks like we’re gonna have a new member of the gang,” Xander says as Draco and him step outside.

   “For the 100th time we are not a gang Xan,” Draco replies, “and we definitely shouldn’t be calling ourselves a ‘gang’ if one of us is a newborn baby.”

   Xander starts laughing, “what do you mean? Come on, me and the baby could get matching tattoos together.”

   Now they’re both laughing as they reach Xander’s car and Draco looks at him and asks between gasps of air, “Can you imagine what Hazel would say?”

   “She wouldn’t say anything,” Xander replies grinning, “she’d slap us both so hard we’d have her hand print on our faces for a week.”

   They get in the car still laughing and as Xander starts the car, Draco shakes his head and says, “Well shit, Hazel’s a fucking mom. I can’t believe it.” Xander nods his head in agreement and they pull onto the street.

 

Back in Draco’s office, Harry wonders if he should check to see if everything is okay. Draco seemed pretty frantic... he waits a few minutes and then decides to step out of the office, only to find himself completely alone. _What the fuck_ , he thinks as he walks towards the door. It’s locked. Turning around to look at the empty café Harry realizes they’ve left. _That fucking bastard. Well I’m not staying here all day_ he thinks as he pulls out his wand to unlock the door and then steps outside onto the street. Making sure no one is watching he locks the door again, and heads back to the hotel.

 

 

 


	4. little white lies

   “Where the bloody hell have you been Harry, I’ve been waiting here for almost an hour,” Ron whines as Harry enters their hotel room, closing the door behind him. 

   They’re on a little vacation. Hermione was offered a job working on some new clinical trial that’s based in San Francisco. Out of the three of them Hermione is the only one with a solid job. After the war neither Harry nor Ron found anything “dark magic” related very appealing so their old dream of being Aurors together fell apart. Since then they both worked some odd jobs simply to keep from becoming homeless. Most recently Harry had been going to Hogwarts every few days and visiting the classes. Being famous had some perks when it came to looking for ways to get paid. Take a few pictures, make some money. Ron had been working at his family’s shop. When Hermione got this offer neither of them wanted to be apart for the three months that the trial took place over. After multiple debates about whether or not Hermione should take the job and arguments, that left Ron showing up in Harry’s living room asking for advice and somewhere to sleep, They had decided that Ron would simply go with Hermione. Then Ron had invited Harry because with Hermione working so much, he didn’t want to be alone and Harry agreed. Then Harry found out Ginny was coming.

  They weren’t on bad terms or anything but after coming out as bisexual and breaking up with Ginny... well it definitely made things weird. Even after 4 years he still got the feeling that she was just waiting for him to change his mind. Other then a few awkward moments though they had managed to remain friends.

   So after considering staying home and deciding he needed a break from everything anyways, he came along. It’s their first day in San Francisco and Harry had offered to go get some coffees for Ron and him. They had noticed the café the night before and since it was only a few blocks away Harry had thought it would be a nice experience to get out and see the city.

  _Yes what a nice experience indeed_ he thinks sulkily. He turns from the door bracing himself for the questions, that start coming as soon as Ron sees his face. 

   “Harry what the bloody hell happened to your face? Is that a black eye? Did you get mugged? Where are our coffees?

“No, no I just got lost on the way to the café, and I couldn’t find my way back.”

   He glances up hoping that Ron can’t tell he’s lying. Harry takes a brief moment to appreciate the fact that Hermione left early that morning. She’s always been able to tell when he’s lying. Harry hopes that some married couple thing didn’t somehow transfer Hermione’s information to Ron when Ron finally responds,

“Oh Harry I knew I should have come with you. You’ve never been very good with directions, I mean the place is two blocks over I’m not sure how you got lost...”

Harry glares at him.

“Oh, sorry, no you’re great with directions, I uh just yeah....” Ron coughs.

He then asks the one thing Harry was really hoping he wouldn’t: 

“Um, so how did you get the black eye though?”

 

***

    Draco and Xander walk into the hospital waiting room looking around for any signs of where to go. Draco feels uneasy, he doesn’t like hospitals. Especially since “the incident.” He can see Xander glancing at him out of the corner of his eye. He knows Xander is thinking about it too, so he tells Xander he’s going to ask the receptionist where to go. They need the directions anyways and this way he can get away from Xander and his constant questioning of “Are you sure you’re alright?”

Xander had started asking about halfway to the hospital. With all the excitement of the baby, they had both forgotten about “the incident.” But, when they passed the sign that declared that their exit was nearing, it had hit them both. Draco hadn’t been in a hospital since and both Xander and him were well aware of that fact. But, there was no way Draco would let his past ruin this moment for Hazel. So he told Xander to _please leave it be_ , especially because he knows Hazel will breakdown into a pool of guilt if she remembers. This is Hazel’s day. Draco isn’t going to let a little anxiety ruin that.

   After getting a room number from the nurse working the desk Draco waves Xander over and they start walking down the halls looking for Hazel’s room. When they finally find it, Draco forgets everything he was thinking about before. Filled with excitement he opens the door and grins when he sees Hazel in the bed.

  Her brown hair is up in a messy bun, with a few pieces of hair escaping from the front and hanging around her face as she looks down at the baby in her arms. When Draco sees her he gets the strangest feeling that he’s forgetting something but before he can figure out what, she looks up at them, practically radiating happiness. The sun coming through the windows reflects off of her brown eyes, making them seem brighter and sparkly from the tears that are escaping every now and then.

   Hazel wipes some of the tears away and says, “Well? What are you standing in the doorway for? Come meet my daughter.” 

 

***

  Harry, Ron and Ginny are “exploring.”

   After retelling his bullshit story of how he got lost and then got elbowed in the face in a crowd of people crossing the street to Ginny, Harry was more than happy to sit in the hotel all day. Ron, on the other hand, wouldn’t stand for that and he somehow convinced Harry that they should all wander around San Francisco.

   “This way no one will get lost,” Ron had said.

   Harry wouldn’t be surprised if by the end of the day Hermione had put a leash on him.

   That’s another reason Harry’s here with them. They don’t like the idea of him being alone. Even if he wanted to remain alone in England, they would have done _something_ to make sure he was being watched. They probably would have arranged for Mrs. Weasley to stop in every day.

   They’ve wandered the neighboring blocks for about an hour, window shopping and people watching. They even passed Malfoy’s café, that still had a sign up reading “closed.” When they passed Ron had patted Harry on the shoulder and said,

  “Oh well mate. Even if you hadn’t got lost, you wouldn’t have been able to get those coffees. Quite strange, if you ask me. Their hours say they should be open right now... hmm. Strange.”

   Ron had then proceeded to immediately get distracted by a thrift shop up ahead. Harry had lingered outside the café for a few moments wondering where Draco could have gone, before catching up to where Ron and Ginny were arguing about where to eat lunch.

 

***

   “Hazel she’s absolutely beautiful,” Draco says holding Hazel’s daughter in his arms.

  Xander agrees and then asks, “So did you and Ben decide on a name?” 

 “Yes!” Hazel says, lighting up with excitement. 

    Just then, the door opens and they all turn to watch Ben stumble in with a cup of coffee, that he hands to Hazel. 

  “Hey man! Congratulations,” Xander says, standing to give him a hug.

   “Congratulations,” Draco murmurs, still watching the baby that’s cradled in his arms as it sleeps.

   “Thanks you guys,” Ben says. He sounds out of breath and Draco glances up from the baby to look at him. He’s running a hand through his dirty blonde hair and he looks absolutely exhausted. His blue T-shirt is wrinkled and he’s wearing sweats and.. flip flops? _Interesting choice..._ Draco thinks as he looks back down at the baby. He can’t help it, the baby is so tiny and Draco’s heart melted the moment he laid eyes on it. He’s distracted again by Xander standing over him.

  “Hey D, can I hold the kid?” 

  Reluctantly Draco passes the baby to Xander, being careful to cradle its head, and watches (a little jealously) as Xander sits down with the baby in his arms. Draco stands and walks over to Hazel who’s watching Xander hold her daughter, the coffee in her hand forgotten. When she notices Draco though, her attention snaps over to him and she grins and leans forward to hug him.

   “I’m very happy for you Hazel,” he says, kissing her on the head.

   “Oh Draco stop, you’re gonna make me start crying again,” she smiles as Ben walks over to put his hand on her shoulder. He’s smiling at her and if it wasn’t such a sweet moment, Draco would tell them to get a room. Absolute adoration and love are written all over Ben’s face as he watches his wife.

    “So,” Xander says from the corner, and they all turn to look at him. “What’d you name this little guy?”

  “Well,” Ben starts, walking over and taking his baby from Xander, “we decided to name her Kyla.” 

   “Hello Kyla,” Draco says leaning down to look at the baby, “it’s nice to meet you.” 

   He hears Hazel giggle and he looks up grinning at her as she takes a sip of her coffee. She makes a face and pretends to gag. “God, the coffee in this place is awful. I haven’t been able to drink coffee for 9 months and the first cup I get tastes like it was made in a sink. I’m telling you the one thing I’m looking forward to the most, is being able to get a cup of coffee from the café. We may not be good at much, but we make a damn good cup of coffee, that’s for sure.” Draco’s chuckling at her words when he remembers.

  _Coffee, café, Harry. Oh shit._ He spins around to face Xander who is looking back at him with wide eyes. 

  “We didn’t-“ Xander begins to say and then trails off.

 “Nope we definitely did,” Draco finishes.

   “You did.. what..?” Hazel asks from her bed looking confused. Ben is also staring at them now.

  “Uh...” Draco says...

  _How do I explain that I accidentally locked Harry Potter in our café? For fucks sake how could I forget Harry was there in the first place._

  He looks at Xander for help but Xander just stares back at him helplessly.

_Goddamnit_.

   “Guys, what’s going on?” Hazel asks. 

   Before Xander can say anything Draco jumps in, ”Oh it’s nothing Hazel, I just think we might have forgotten to lock up.”

   “Oh no.” Hazel sighs. 

   “Don’t worry though, I’ll drive over there, Xander can I borrow your car? I’ll just pop by real quick and make sure everything’s locked.” 

  “Yeah, yeah okay,” Hazel says, “that’s a good idea. Thank you Draco.”

  “No no, don’t worry about it, you guys just stay here and relax. Oh and I’ll bring you a cup of coffee since I’ll be there anyways,” Draco offers.

  “Oh Draco you have no idea how much I love you,” Hazel sighs.

   Draco kisses her cheek before turning to Xander for the keys. Xander is looking at him strangely but Draco doesn’t have time to worry about Xander’s confusion on why he just lied to Hazel. Xander gives him the keys and Draco steps out into the hall and heads toward the parking garage.

  When he arrives at the café, he finds it empty, just as he expected. He leans against the counter and runs his hand through his hair looking around. Of course Harry left. Why would he stay in an empty café? Draco feels guilt rising up inside him. How did he forget about Harry? He may not particularly like the man but that’s no excuse for abandoning him. Draco makes a mental note to somehow apologize, though it doesn’t seem likely he’ll get a chance, and then he begins making a coffee to bring back to Hazel.

 

***

  That night Harry lies awake, unable to sleep. He’s thinking about Malfoy. Harry tosses around trying to get the image of Malfoy sitting on the ground laughing out of his head. Turning on his side he replays everything that happened. He can’t figure out why Malfoy left him in the café. Was it some weird practical joke? Did Malfoy forget that he was there? Has Malfoy even realized that he forgot about him? Groaning Harry flops onto his stomach and buries his face in his pillow. _He has got to stop thinking about Draco Malfoy._

 

*** 

  Draco lays on Hazel’s couch and listens to the ticking of her clock. After he got back, she was released from the hospital and they all spent the rest of the day at her house. Taking turns holding baby Kyla and, after the baby was asleep, getting drunk and watching cooking shows.

   Draco called their two employees, Liz and Ted, to let them know that they could have the day off. They’re both in high school and he doesn’t trust them to run the café alone. Besides they’ve been open everyday for almost 4 years. They deserve a day off.

  It’s almost 6 in the morning. Hazel was the first to fall asleep, then Ben and then Xander. Every few hours Kyla wakes up crying and they’ve been taking turns getting up to calm her down. Draco just took his turn and now he can’t seem to fall back asleep. His mind starts wandering and it lands on Harry. 

  Xander had questioned him about the lying on the way home. Draco just said he didn’t want Hazel to get stressed out if they told her they locked someone up in their café. 

  Now Draco can’t stop thinking about Harry. He doesn’t look as different as you would think after five years. He’s a little taller, though still significantly shorter than Draco. His hair is still a mess but he does have new glasses. The same shape but a thinner frame. Much nicer than the ones he had before. Same emerald green eyes, still stubborn and trying to pick a fight with Draco over anything. Draco can’t help but wonder why he’s in San Francisco... and how long is he here for? Draco frowns. He’s not sure why his head is filled with thoughts of Potter. It’s probably some sort of side effect of shock from seeing him again.

    _Yeah, that must be it_ , Draco decides. He pulls the blanket he borrowed close around him and curls up into a ball.

   Maybe he can get a few more hours of sleep before his day officially starts. 

 

 

 


	5. what happened to you?

    It’s the third day of their vacation and Harry is annoyed. He hasn’t had a moment alone for the last two days. He loves his friends, he really does, but being around them 24/7 is exhausting. They want to go out and find bars, wander around for hours, go shopping, eat at different restaurants. Ron and Ginny have recently come up with their new favorite activity: hopping on a bus, getting out at a random spot and trying to find their way home. It was fun the first time but last night over dinner, while telling Hermione about their day, Ron and Ginny had begun planning for today. Today’s plan consisted of getting on a bus, getting off and then getting on another bus and getting off again. “To make things more difficult”, Ginny had said excitedly. Hermione must have seen the exhaustion on Harry’s face because she piped up, suggesting that Harry go with her to work the next day. Ron and Ginny had looked at her confused but she simply said that a few people wanted to meet him and maybe he could take a look at the work they were doing and see if it interested him. Upon hearing the last part Ron and Ginny had quickly agreed with Hermione. Harry hadn’t been interested in much these days and he knew they were worried about him. Later that night he pulled Hermione aside and thanked her but told her he really didn’t feel like meeting a bunch of witches and wizards. She had smiled softly at him and told him she wasn’t expecting him to. Then she gave him $20 and told him to be up at 9 the next morning to make it seem believable. After that she said that he should spend some time doing something he wanted to do. But, to meet her at the bus stop down the street at 6pm so they could walk home together. He quickly agreed and Hermione hugged him and told him she just wanted to see him happy again. That had made him quite uncomfortable and he had awkwardly thanked her before heading back to his room. 

   It’s 9:05 a.m. and Hermione has just left Harry so she can catch the bus, reminding him to be careful. (Ron had told her the “Harry got lost and elbowed in the face” story). Now he’s standing on the street wearing jeans and a dark red hoodie, wondering where he should go. He starts walking and before he knows it he’s a few shops down from Malfoy’s café. People are heading in and out with cups of coffee and Harry isn’t quite sure how he ended up here. After the first day here, Ginny had found a café in their hotel and they had just been going there for coffee in the mornings. Now Harry is standing outside Malfoy’s café and he feels a strange urge to go inside. _It’s probably because I haven’t had coffee yet_ he tells himself. _Or because Malfoy left me locked in his shop and I still kind of want to yell at him for that._ It is definitely not that Harry is curious about what Malfoy is doing. _No_ , he tells himself, _I’m simply not caffeinated and annoyed with Malfoy._ Feeling reassured by his reasonings, he pushes the door and walks in.

 

***

   Draco is tired. He called Xander this morning to come help him because there was just no way Draco could handle all these people and their various coffees by himself today. He hasn’t been sleeping well. He keeps thinking about Harry and it’s been keeping him up. Draco isn’t sure what that’s about but he’s sure it will end soon. It has to, because he really needs his sleep. Hazel had shown up around 8:30 with Kyla, despite Draco’s objections about her working again. Hazel had already made up her mind though, so Draco had reluctantly agreed to letting her work as cashier. _No physical labor allowed_ he told her. Now Xander and him are taking turns helping Hazel in the front and watching Kyla in Draco’s office. It’s almost time for Xander to take over for Draco when he sees Harry Potter walk through his café door. Harry sees him and they stare at each other for a moment. _What is he doing here?_ Draco finishes making his last drink before telling Hazel he’s switching with Xander and taking off his apron. She finishes an order for a customer and then turns to nod at him.

  “Hey while you’re in your office can you buy some more of those French roast coffee beans? We’re running low.”

  “Yeah, of course,” he says.

  “Thanks darling,” she says giving him a quick kiss on the cheek.

  “Do I need to make you rewatch the video on sexual assault in the workplace?,” he asks and she holds back a laugh as she turns back to her customer.

  Draco rubs at his face, trying to get off the lipstick he knows will be there as he steps from behind the counter and glances at Harry who is still standing there. Harry is watching Hazel though and doesn’t seem to notice Draco so he jogs back to his office and tells Xander it’s time to switch. Xander sighs dramatically and complains about “labor laws in this country” as Draco rolls his eyes and shoves him out the door. A few moments later there’s a knock on the door and Draco sighs. He knows it’s Harry before he even opens the door. They stand there for a moment and Draco is trying to think of something to say when Kyla starts whimpering from the couch where she’s laying, surrounded by pillows. Draco turns to Kyla and then back to Harry who’s looking over his shoulder.

   “Well, you might as well come in,” Draco says, opening the door to allow Harry to walk in.

   Harry hesitates for a moment looking unsure and then steps in saying, “Are you going to leave me locked in here again?”

   Draco closes the door and leans against it staring at the floor. “Yeah...,” he runs a hand through his hair, “I want to apologize for that.” He looks back at Harry who’s staring at him.

   “Well, I was wondering what your excuse for locking me in your coffee shop was,” Harry says flatly.

   “For God’s sake Potter... okay... come here. Have a look for yourself.” 

 

***

   Harry watches as Malfoy picks up a baby from his couch. The baby, that was previously making some sort of whimpering noise, immediately calms down and sighs happily as Malfoy holds it. Malfoy walks over to where Harry is standing and says,

   “Harry, I’d like you to meet “My Excuse For Leaving You In My Coffee Shop.” Though usually we just call her “Kyla.”

   “Oh,” Harry says. “You.. had a baby?”

   “What?”

   “You and your girlfriend or wife or whatever, you guys had a baby.”

   “My what?”

    Harry sighs, “how are you confused? You,” Harry points at Malfoy, “and your wife,” Harry points to the photo hanging on the wall of Malfoy and that woman, “had a baby,” Harry points to the baby.

    Malfoy just stares at him and then, glancing at the photo and the baby, he starts laughing. The baby in Malfoy’s arms starts to stir and he bites his lip, the laughter dying slowly. Harry isn’t sure what he said that seems to be so funny. He feels his cheeks start to warm and he glares at the floor wondering why he came back here.

   “Sorry,” he says, “I don’t even know why I came back here, I’ll show myself out.”

   He turns to the door but Malfoy calls out to him to wait. Harry stops with his hand on the door. He’s still going to leave but he’s curious to here what Malfoy is about to say.

   “Sorry, i didn’t mean to laugh at you,” Malfoy says.

    _Okay great_ Harry thinks, _well time to go_ , and he opens the door but he’s stopped again by Malfoy’s objections.

   “Really, Potter I meant nothing by it. This isn’t my baby though. This is my friend Hazel’s baby.”

   Harry turns around to look back at Malfoy who’s looking at him the way teachers do when they think you know the answer to something but you don’t. He raises his eyebrows as if to say, and...?

    Malfoy says, “I laughed because the idea of Hazel and me having a child together has a smaller chance of happening than Voldemort coming back from the dead.”

   Harry flinches when he hears the name but he still doesn’t understand what Malfoy is saying. His confusion must show on his face because Malfoy sighs and says,

   “I’m gay Harry.”

    Harry let’s go of the door and it clicks shut behind him as he thinks _Oh, well I was not expecting that._

 

***

   Draco is sitting on the couch holding a sleeping Kyla as Potter snoops around his office. Okay he isn’t really snooping he’s just looking at pictures. After Draco told Harry he was gay, things had been... strange. Harry had blushed a deep red and had just stood there like a deer in headlights.

   “Seriously Potter? You’re not one of those homophobic types are you?”

   “No. Malfoy, I’m not- I don’t- I don’t care that you’re gay. I’m just surprised. I thought you were dating that girl out there.”

   “What girl?”

   “The one in the photo behind your desk. That kissed you on the cheek...”

   “Hazel? You thought I was dating Hazel? No, no Hazel is my best friend. She’s also married and female, and like I said before ‘I’m gay.”

   “Oh.”

   “Yep.”

    Then they had stood there for a while until Kyla woke up crying. Then Draco began walking around murmuring softly to her and bouncing her up and down gently. Draco could feel Harry staring at him so he turned around and asked if Harry wanted to hold her. Harry had looked terrified and quickly said no. Draco just shrugged and kept bouncing her. While Draco was distracted by Kyla, Harry must have started walking around because when Draco sat down with a now sleeping Kyla, Harry was behind his desk. Draco watches Harry, blinking slowly. He’s exhausted. Harry is looking at the photos on Draco’s desk with his hands in his hoodie pocket. His messy hair is falling in front of his eyes and Draco thinks for a second about how soft Harry’s hair looks. Draco is distracted by Kyla shifting in his arms to clutch a handful of his shirt in her little fist. He smiles down at her and looks up to find that Harry has moved.

   Looking back down at Kyla, Draco murmurs, “Why did you come back?”

   “I’m not sure,” Harry says. “Sorry I don’t mean to bother you-“

   “No, I didn’t mean that. I just don’t understand why you came back.”

   “I don’t either.”

    Draco looks up from Kyla frowning as he hears the office door open and close. Potter still is strange that’s for sure. Draco leans back onto the couch and wonders why the room feels so empty with Potter gone. 

 

***

    _Malfoy is gay?_ Well Harry wasn’t expecting that. He’s standing in line for a cup of coffee. He was going to leave Malfoy’s café for good but the coffee smelled so good and he still hadn’t had breakfast. The line was a lot shorter than it was when he came in. It’s been a good five minutes and he’s finally the next in line to order. Malfoy’s friend, Xander, Harry remembers, is running behind the counter making drink after drink. He hasn’t seemed to notice Harry’s presence and Harry is grateful. Xander doesn’t seem to like him and Harry doesn’t feel like being punched in the face today. When it’s finally his turn Harry steps up to the counter where the girl he now knows is named Hazel is sitting on a stool. She smiles at him and asks “Hi, what can I get for you today?” Harry stares at her for a moment. She’s beautiful. She has long brown hair that’s been pulled up into a ponytail. Her skin is the color of light caramel and completely clear except for a sprinkle of freckles across her nose. He clears his throat, realizing he’s staring, and orders a vanilla latte and a blueberry scone. She smiles at him as she hands him his receipt and tells him to have a nice day. Harry steps out of line and for the first time he feels confusion hit him like a wall. How did he let this slide before? He looks around. At the cozy café, at Xander making drinks, at Hazel taking orders. He glances back at the office where he knows Malfoy is, taking care of a baby. For the first time he seriously wonders: _how in the hell did Draco Malfoy end up here?_

 

***

   “Draco. Wake up, man. There’s only a few people coming in now but we still have two hours until Liz and Ted get here. I’m going on a break and Hazel needs someone to run the counter. We were supposed to switch an hour ago but you were sleeping and I didn’t want to wake you up, but now you gotta.”

   Draco opens his eyes and stares at the ceiling.

   “Draco? Did you hear me?” He looks over to the source of noise that so rudely woke him up.

  “Yes, Xander I heard you. How long have I been asleep?”

  “About two hours.”

   “Oh.”

    Draco looks down to his arms where Kyla is beginning to stir awake.

    “Yeah so I’m gonna head out, I need some fresh air.” (When Xander says fresh air, it’s really just code for “I’m gonna go smoke some cigarettes.”)

   “Okay, when will you be back?” Draco asks just as Xander starts to slip out of the room.

    He turns back from the doorway and says, “40 minutes.”

   “Ok.”

    Xander turns away again but then stops to peek his head back in, “Oh that guy that we stranded here is back.”

   “Huh?”

   “The dude we left locked here.”

    “Yeah I know who you’re referring to but what do you mean he’s back?”

   “He’s been here for like 2 hours.”

   “What?”

   “Yeah he ordered something and he’s been sitting at a table ever since. Just wanted to let you know.”

   “Thanks?”

   Xander shrugs and walks out. _Why is Harry still here? Well no time to worry about that, I’ve got work to do._ Draco picks up Kyla who wakes up at the sudden movement and starts crying. He hums softly trying to calm her as he leaves his office to find Hazel already turning towards him at the sound of her baby. She steps out from behind the counter and meets Draco, taking Kyla from him and speaking softly as Kyla calms down and lays against her mom’s chest. “I think she’s hungry, I’m gonna go breastfeed her,” Hazel says.

  “Okay, I’ll be out here if you need me.”    

   Hazel walks back to the office, disappearing and Draco goes to sit behind the counter. As he sits down he notices Harry sitting by a table at the window, looking outside. There’s a mug in front of him, which means he didn’t get his coffee to go. Draco shifts on the stool watching the way Harry taps his foot against the floor and how small he looks. He’s hunched into himself. Slouching against the chair with his hands hidden in his hoodie. He looks... sad, empty.Draco feels strangely concerned for the man. They’ve never been friends but they’ve known each other since they were kids and this... this is something Draco has never seen before. He’s seen Potter angry (usually at him), happy, bored. Hell, he’s even seen him in pain. But, this is different. For the first time since seeing him again, Draco feels genuine curiosity rise up inside him. _What the hell happened to Harry Potter?_ Harry turns and sees him sitting on the stool. He looks surprised to see Draco and then he starts to stand up. Draco’s brain is going a mile a minute with different questions and he can almost see his feelings reflected off of Harry’s face. Harry is staring at him like he’s part of a puzzle that just won’t fit. Draco starts to feel uncomfortable, he feels like he’s being examined under a microscope. Finally Harry reaches the counter.

  “What are you doing here?” Harry asks him. His eyebrows are scrunched together.

   Draco raises an eyebrow, “I work here Potter... Are you okay?”

   “No, Malfoy. Not what are you doing in this café, what are you doing _here_. In _America_. What happened to you?”

   “I could ask you the same thing.”

   “What does that mean?” Harry snaps.    

   Before Draco can answer, the little bell at the door rings and a young woman walks in. Harry continues to stand in front of Draco until she asks, “Um sir, are you in line?”

   “No no I’m not. Sorry,” Harry replies. He stands there for a second longer before he shakes his head and walks out of the café. Draco feels the strangest urge to go after him but, the woman is looking at him expectantly so he pushes what just happened out of his head and turns to focus on his customer.

 

***

   Harry is at the end of the street when he turns a corner and almost runs into Xander.

    After getting his coffee and scone, he had sat by the window and watched the scene playing out around him. People coming in and out, Xander making drinks, Hazel taking orders. He knows Xander saw him. Xander didn’t make any move to address him though so Harry continued to watch what he thought of as “the life of Draco Malfoy.” The coffee was absolutely amazing and Harry spent a while savoring the taste of it as he wondered what could possibly make this coffee taste so much better than any other. When the coffee ran out and the scone was gone Harry didn’t know what to do. He didn’t have anywhere else to go and it was warm in the little café. He wondered a lot about where Malfoy was. He saw Xander go back to the office and come back at one point but Malfoy never made an appearance. Harry wondered if Malfoy actually did any work or if he just sat in his office all day. He’s not sure how long he stayed there. He got lost in thought watching people go by the window. It wasn’t until he saw Malfoy sitting at the counter and looked at the clock that he realized he had sat there for more than an hour. Malfoy had been staring at him and suddenly Harry felt exposed. Then he remembered his question: How did Draco Malfoy end up in San Francisco, California with a café? Without really thinking he had stood up and walked right up to Malfoy and asked him. He hadn’t gotten an answer. Instead he got some vague question thrown back at him. _“I could ask you the same thing.” What the hell did that mean?_ Harry’s not the one who skipped town to a different country. He had been puzzling over it for the whole walk. Then he ran into Xander.

   “Sorry about that,” he says moving to walk around Xander, who’s leaning against the wall with a cigarette between his lips. Xander watches him as he passes and Harry begins to walk away when he realizes the answer to his question is right there. So turning around Harry asks, “How did you meet Draco?”

   Xander looks up at him, exhaling smoke from his mouth, “Why do you wanna know? How do you know him?”

   “We went to school together.”

   “Ok.”

   “Well?”

   “Well what?”

    “Are you going to tell me how you met him?”

   “Why are you so interested in Draco’s life?”

    “I’m not.”

   “Really? Then why did you come back to the café and why are you standing here asking me how I met him?”

   “You know what, never mind.”

   “Never mind?”

   “Yeah, never mind.” Harry says and he walks away. Harry glares at the ground as he walks away. _Why did he think that was gonna work? More importantly, why is he disappointed that it didn’t work?_ Harry glances at his watch, it’s a little past noon. He decides to go visit Hermione at work. Maybe they can have lunch together.

 

***

  “He asked me how we met.”

   “He asked you what?” Draco looks at Xander confused.

   “Yeah, he wanted to know how I met you.”

   “I’m sorry guys, who are we talking about again?” Hazel asks from where she’s sitting next to Draco. They’re in the office. It’s nearing 9, which is closing time, and Liz and Ted are working the counter. Only a handful of people come in at this time so they’re mostly cleaning up. Since they’re out there, Draco, Hazel and Xander are all in the office talking. They were talking about the new horror movie that just came out, and they were making plans to see it tomorrow night. Then Xander had suddenly told Draco he forgot to tell him about earlier, and naturally Draco asked what he meant by “earlier.” This led to Xander telling him about his run in with Potter.

   “Some dude that’s obsessed with Draco,” Xander replies to Hazel’s question. “He was in the café, earlier. Ordered a drink. Red hoodie, glasses.”

   Hazel shrugs, “Sorry guys I don’t really pay attention to what the customers look like.”

   “He’s not obsessed with me,” Draco objects.

   “Sure he isn’t,” Xander says.

   Draco rolls his eyes. “Well okay, Draco do you know who this man is?” Hazel asks. She sounds concerned. Oh shit, Hazel probably thinks he has an actual psychopath stalking him or something.

   Glaring at Xander he turns to Hazel, “Don’t worry Hazel. He’s not stalking me,” he stares at Xander who just shrugs and says, “whatever man.”

   “We went to school together. I haven’t seen him in five years. He’s probably just curious as to how I ended up here. As you know it was sort of a last minute decision.”

   Hazel nods. That’s how they had met actually. Him, knowing nothing about the city he had just moved to on an impulse decision had asked her for directions back to his hotel. He had been quite a mess back then. Anxious and scared. Hazel had happened to be staying in the same hotel. She had ran away from home. They had walked back together. Two trainwrecks of human beings with no idea what they were doing. Hazel made him feel safe and happy. They began to stick together. Exploring the city together. They got to know each other pretty well until after about a month and a half they were pretty much inseparable. They saved up money and bought a tiny apartment together. They lived there for almost a year. The first few months they spent thinking of ways to make money. After complaining about how shitty the coffee around here was and drunkenly ranting about how she could make a better cup of coffee blackout drunk than any of the shops in the area, Draco had fallen over from laughing and told her that they should buy their own café. Run everyone else out of business. Drunk Hazel had lit up like a Christmas tree. “Oh my god Draco that’s the best idea I’ve ever heard. We could be co-managers.” Gasping she slapped him and said “I know we’re wasted as hell and this might be the worst idea we’ve ever had but right now I think it’s absolutely brilliant and I need you to write it down.” Giggling Draco had picked up a pen and just held it, staring at it.

   “Draco. Write it down.”

   “Huh?”

    Hazel had grabbed the pen from him and grabbing his arm wrote “OWN COFFEE. SHITTY COFFEE OUT FOR GOOD. MILLIONAIRES” on his arm. They had then proceeded to pass out and the next morning they had horrible hangovers but they also had an idea. And, it was just as brilliant as it had been when they were drunk.

   “Whatever,” Xander says, “I still think he’s stalking you. I gotta head out but, I’ll see you guys tomorrow for the movie.”

    With a mix of “bye” and “see you tomorrow” Draco and Hazel watch Xander walk out.

   “I should get going too actually,” Hazel says picking up Kyla’s carrier. “Ben will be wondering where I am.”

   “I’ll walk you out,” he says getting up too. When they leave the office, Liz and Ted are gone. Their shifts are over so they must have left with Xander because they’re supposed to let one of them know when they leave. Kissing Hazel’s cheek and whispering a quick goodbye to a sleeping Kyla, Draco watches as Hazel leaves. He watches her until she’s in her car and has driven away. He likes to make sure she’s safe. San Francisco can be pretty sketchy at night. She’ll text him later to let him know she made it home. It’s what they do. After locking up Draco starts walking to the end of the street. There’s a little alley down there and he usually apparates home from there. When he gets there though he finds a drunk HarryPotter sitting on the ground. _What the hell?_

   He walks over to Harry and kneels on the ground, “Harry? Are you alright?”

   Harry looks up at him with dazed eyes. “I was supposed to meet her at 6. She told me to meet her at 6. I don’t want to go back to the hotel though.”

   Draco is starting to feel very concerned. “Harry? Who were you supposed to meet?”

  “Hermione.” He hiccups. “I’m a bad friend. They try so hard to help me but I don’t want to go back there.” He looks at Draco desperately.

   “Harry, why don’t you want to go back? Did you get into a fight with Hermione?”

   Harry chuckles sadly. “No. no.”

   “Then why don’t you want to go back?”

   He can tell that he’s losing Harry’s focus. He asks louder, “Harry, why don’t you want to go back?”

   Harry looks at him surprised and then in the saddest voice Draco’s ever heard he whispers, “they think I’m broken.”

   Draco doesn’t know what to do. He’s in a dark alley with a drunk Harry Potter. He doesn’t know where Harry’s hotel is but he can’t leave him here, especially in this state. Lifting Harry off his feet he links one of his arms through Harry’s and apparates them both to his apartment. Harry stumbles when they appear in Draco’s living room and Draco reaches out to catch him. He guides Harry to the couch and tells him to wait a moment. He goes to his linen closet to get a blanket but when he returns Harry is passed out, slouched forward on the couch. Draco carefully lays him down on his side, taking off his glasses and then covers him with the blanket. He sits in an armchair next to the couch watching Harry and thinking:  _What happened to you?_


	6. a strange way to start the day

   Harry feels like he’s gonna throw up. He opens his eyes and squints at the ceiling trying to remember what happened the night before.

He had lunch with Hermione, then he hung out in her office until they took the bus home. He remembers hearing Ginny and Ron talking as they got closer to their hotel room. He remembers they were fighting about him.

“Aren’t you worried about him Ron?”

“Of course I am Gin he’s my best friend.”

“You need to talk to him.”

“About what?”

“He’s quiet all the time, he hates going out, he isn’t interested in anything anymore. Somethings wrong.”

“He’s having a hard time Gin, we’ve all had our fair share of rough patches.”

  “But, how much longer? How much longer are we gonna let him go on like this?”

Harry remembers Hermione asking him to wait as he sped up towards the door.

“Like what Gin? Of course he’s messed up from the war, we all were.”

“But we worked through it, we reached the other side,”

Harry opened the door just in time to hear,

“It’s been _five years_ and he’s still stuck in the same place and he always will be unless we do something because he clearly doesn’t see that he needs help.”

After that things get blurry. He remembers freezing and Ginny and Ron turning to look at him. He remembers Ginny apologizing as he ran out the door and Hermione begging him to stay as he ran down the hall. He remembers leaving and finding a gas station and buying a bottle of vodka.

He squeezes his eyes shut trying to remember what happened next. _Oh God I really don’t feel good_ he thinks as he feels an aching pain in his stomach. He sits up carefully and that’s when he realizes he has no idea where he is. He manages to make out his glasses sitting on a coffee table and he grabs them and scrambles up. There’s a blanket on him and he throws it off, feeling fear rise up inside him. Then he sees Malfoy. He blinks a few times confused. Malfoy is curled up in an armchair fast asleep. He’s still wearing the grey jeans and camo t shirt he was wearing yesterday. _Okay what the fuck._ Harry looks around him. He’s on a black couch and there’s a tv mounted on the wall in front of him over a fireplace. There’s a hallway off to the right and behind him is a kitchen. He feels his stomach lurch and he decides to lay back down. He lays on the couch for a few minutes before he can’t anymore.

  Sitting up slowly he whispers, “Malfoy. Hey, Malfoy?” This has no effect on Malfoy whatsoever, so Harry leans forward and pokes him. Still nothing. Finally he yells, “ _MALFOY_.” That does the trick.

Malfoy’s eyes blink open and he covers his ears with his hands, “Stop yelling you imbecile, I’m trying to sleep.”

“Malfoy where am I?”

“Hm?” Malfoy’s eyes are closed again.

Huffing Harry yells again, “ _WHERE THE BLOODY HELL AM I?”_

“For Christ’s sake, will you STOP yelling,” Draco snaps, sitting up. “You’re in my apartment. Now can you please be quiet so I can sleep.”

_I’m in Draco Malfoy’s apartment? What the hell_. Harry doesn’t have time to think about that much longer though because he feels bile rising up in his throat and standing up he says, “I’m gonna throw up. Where’s the bathroom? _MALFOY_?” Malfoy points a finger down the hall with his eyes still closed and Harry goes running.

 

***

Draco listens to the horrid retching noises coming from his bathroom. He lays against the armchair with his eyes open for a while wondering when he fell asleep here. Rubbing his eyes with his hand he stands up to go change. He fell asleep in yesterday’s clothes and he feels constricted in his jeans. He puts on a pair of black basketball shorts (not that he actually plays or does anything athletic) and a black hoodie to match. It’s Saturday. The café is only open from noon to five today, and Xander will be there to open. Which means Draco has until 2pm to do whatever he wants. After changing he walks out of his room to find Potter laying on his couch looking like absolute shit. He walks past him into the kitchen for a glass of water. He takes his glass and walks over to his armchair.

   Potter sits up when he arrives and says, “Oh thanks Malfoy. You really didn’t need to get me water.”

“This is mine.”

“What?”

“I got this for myself, I was thirsty.” Draco shrugs as he takes a sip.

“Are you kidding me?”

“What?”

Harry groans and flops back down onto the couch. Draco just stares at him confused and then feeling a little bit ashamed for his horrible hosting skills (it’s not his fault, he doesn’t invite people over often) realizes what he’s done.

  “Oh,” he runs his hand through his hair, “um did you want some? I can go get you a glass.”

  Harry must really not feel good because instead of making a sarcastic remark, he simply nods. Draco gets up and pours another glass of water and grabs a bottle of Advil too. He sets them in front of Harry, who sits up and pours two Advil in his hand before popping them into his mouth and downing the entire glass of water. Draco’s phone chimes and he looks at it seeing a text from Xander. He opens it. “Still on for the movie tonight?” He types back “yes,” and then shutting off his phone looks at Harry who is staring at the coffee table.

“What happened last night? How did I end up here?” He asks, looking up at Draco.

“I found you drunk in an alley.”

“Oh... do you know how I got there? Did I mention anything?”

“No. You were pretty wasted. It was late and I didn’t know what to do so I brought you here.”

“Oh.” Harry sounds relieved.

Draco feels a little stab of guilt for lying. He thinks telling Harry what he said might make whatever’s going on worse though. The rest of the morning is... different. Draco makes some eggs for breakfast and he gives Harry a plate. Harry keeps falling asleep and Draco goes about his day. He combs his hair, does some dishes, brushes his teeth. He has to practically force Harry to get up and shower because he reeks of alcohol and Draco won’t stand for having his apartment smell like a brewery. Then he lends Harry some boxers, shorts and a hoodie. Harry tries to decline at first but Draco tells him that he’s already put his dirty clothes in the wash, so it’s either this or he can walk around naked. Harry chooses the clothes. Around 12:45 Draco wakes up Harry and tells him he’s going to work. Harry nods and tries to fall back asleep but Draco sprays water in his face. (He found an old perfume bottle Hazel left behind and filled it with water.) Harry wakes up spluttering and asks Draco what the hell is wrong with him.

  Draco shrugs, “I got bored.” Then he sprays him again as he walks to the door and says “Come on.”

Harry just stares at him. “Huh?”

“We’re going to the café.”

“We?”

“Well I’m not leaving you in my apartment that’s for sure. Besides coffee is good for hangovers.”

Harry looks like he’s about to lay down again but Draco raises the spray bottle and Harry gets up muttering about his headache. They walk down to the street where Hazel is picking them up.

“Why don’t we just apparate,” Harry grumbles.

“It’s a big city Harry. With a lot of people. I don’t want to risk getting seen.” Draco looks up and down the street searching for Hazels car. He sees it and waves as she pulls up next to them. “Get in,” he tells Harry, gesturing to the back seat.

They get in and Hazel turns around to look at Harry. “Hello Harry. It’s nice to meet you.”

“How do you know who I am?” Harry asks.

“Draco told me you were coming to the café with us.”

“Oh.”

“Yep, don’t worry hon, we’ll get you a cup of coffee and you’ll feel good as new.”

“Thanks...”

Draco starts to fiddle with the radio and Hazel slaps his wrist and tells him to keep his hands off. He rolls his eyes and looks in the side mirror watching Harry resting against the back window. He still has no idea what to do about this.

 

***

  Harry gets out of the car and follows Draco and Hazel inside. His head is still pounding but he feels better than he did when he woke up.

   If he wasn’t so hungover he might be thinking about how he spent his morning in Draco Malfoy’s apartment with Draco Malfoy. Or the fact that he’s wearing a green and blue tie dye hoodie that belongs to Draco Malfoy. Or the fact that even though Draco Malfoy is still an annoying prick (His shirt still has little wet specks from being sprayed with what looked like a perfume bottle), Harry didn’t hate spending time with him. In fact he sort of enjoyed Malfoy’s company. Because he _definitely_ hasn’t thought about it and isn’t thinking about it right now.

   When they walk in Xander is sitting behind he counter and he glances up looking bored when he hears the bell chime. That is quickly replaced by a wide grin as he hops over the counter and twirls Hazel around. “Thank God you guys are here, I was on the verge of dying from boredom.”

  He shoves Malfoy with his arm and Malfoy practically topples over. “Xander, the next time you do that I’m calling the police on you for physical assault.”

  Xander rolls his eyes as Hazel wiggles out of Xander’s grasp and walks over to the counter. Harry stands there shifting his weight from one foot to the other not sure what to do when Xander notices him.

“What is he doing here?”

“Xander-“ there’s a warning tone in Malfoy’s voice.

Xander doesn’t say anything else but he does glares at Harry before bef turns around to say “Hazel, I’ll be here at five for the movie ok?”

“Ok.” Hazel calls back.

Turning back around he says “See you at five D?”

“I’ll be here.”

Grinning Xander shoves Malfoy one more time and laughs as Malfoy points to the older woman sitting in the corner of the shop, “I have witnesses you rabid animal! Expect a call from my lawyer!”

  The door shuts and Hazel calls them over to the counter. “Here Draco,” she says pushing a mug in his direction. Malfoy takes the mug happily and thanks her as she turns to Harry.

  “What do you want? I can make anything on the menu up there,” she says pointing up.

  “I’ll just have a caramel latte,” he says after scanning the menu quickly.

“So Harry what are you doing in California?” She asks as she starts moving about to make his drink.

Malfoy glances at him as he sips from his mug and then says, “Yes, what are you doing here?”

“I could ask you the same thing Malfoy,” he fires back, quoting Malfoy from the day before.

“Fair enough,” Malfoy responds.

Hazel looks between the two of them and the pushes a mug towards Harry. He thanks her just as Malfoy announces he’s going to the office to see if he can order a new espresso machine.

  “What am I supposed to do?” Harry asks as Malfoy begins to walk away.

  Turning around Malfoy says, “Drink your coffee. Then you should go back to where you’re staying. Hermione must be worried about you.”

“Hold on, how do you know about Hermione?”

“What?”

“I never said I was with her.”

“Lucky guess.” Malfoy raises his mug as if to say “cheers” and turns around.

_Unbelievable_ Harry thinks. Then he thinks _Bastard_. Then he thinks _Wow this coffee is really good_ and then grudgingly _Malfoy’s right. I should probably go back to the hotel_. He asks Hazel if he can get his coffee to go and she nods and takes the mug from him. A few minutes later she returns, handing him a paper cup with a lid, and he thanks her and leaves.

When he gets back to the hotel Hermione and Ginny’s eyes are swollen from tears and even Ron looks like he didn’t sleep. They tackle him in a hug and Ginny starts apologizing frantically. They start asking him where he went and he’s thinking of a reply when Hermione leans back and says “Hold on... Harry whose clothes are these? Did you stay over somewhere?”

“Uh yeah... I did.”

“Oh.” Hermione says, “... Well good for you, finding someone.”

“Thanks...” Harry says forcing a smile. He wonders what they would say if he told them his “someone” was Draco Malfoy. He has to hold back a laugh as he imagines the looks on their faces. Then he thinks _Oh shit. I’m still wearing Malfoy’s clothes._

 

***

   No one has come into the café for the last 20 minutes so Hazel and Draco are back in the office. If someone comes in they’ll hear the bell. Besides, they’re only open for about 40 more minutes. They’ve just been chatting when Hazel suddenly asks, “Hey Draco... I might be overstepping here but, what’s the deal with you and Harry?”

Draco knew this was coming. He tells Hazel everything (except the whole “I’m a wizard” thing), so he answers honestly.

  “No no it’s fine. We went to school together back in England. We absolutely hated each other. Then I came here and, as you know, the only person I keep in touch with is my mother.”

“So how did he find the café?”

  “Honestly I have no idea. He just happened to walk in one day. He wasn’t exactly ecstatic to see me.”

  “It’s been five years though, I mean he can’t seriously still hate you?” 

Draco shrugs, “Who knows what goes on in that man’s head.”

“Do you still hate him?”

“Of course not. We were never anything close to friends but a lot has happened since then. I’ve grown up and I may not want to befriend him in any way but I don’t hate him.” Draco waves his hand in the air, “We just so happened to cross paths.”

“Hm, so how did he end up at your apartment?” Hazel raises an eyebrow at him suggestively.

“Oh God no. No, it wasn’t like that. I found him wasted in an alley and I didn’t know what to do with him. I couldn’t leave him there and he was too drunk to tell me where he was staying so I brought him home.”

“Why was he wasted in an alley at night?”

“Well...” Draco says and then looks hesitantly at Hazel. “This does not get repeated.”

   “Okay,” she replies looking a bit concerned.

  “Harry had a tight knit group of friends in school. I always suspected they stayed friends but last night I was trying to figure out what he was _doing_  and he practically begged me not to make him go back to them.” Draco takes a deep breathe, “He said... that they thought he was broken.”

A long period of silence stretches between them.

Breaking it Draco says, “That’s why I made him go back after getting his coffee. I don’t know what happened to him but from what I saw yesterday he needs help from his friends. And I don’t exactly qualify as that.”

“Well that explains why you were so blunt earlier,” Hazel says.

“What do you mean?”

“Oh come on, you all but shoved him out of the shop yourself.”

“Oops?”

“It’s okay, you did the right thing. Everyone needs their friends. Remember when we first met?”

Draco smiles softly as he runs a hand through his hair, “Oh yes, we were quite the pair.”

“We were complete messes.”

“Yes, yes we were.”

  Thinking for a moment Hazel says, “I guess we were pretty broken.”

“We were more on the verge of shattered I would say,” Draco retorts.

Hazel smiles and gets up to sit next to him. Wrapping her arms around him she says, “We had each other though.”

Draco kisses her on the head, “Yes, we had each other though.”

In his head Draco thinks of how lucky he is to have found Hazel. He was as broken as they come but, so was she. They understood each other. They patched each other up with tape and glue and then even more tape and glue. For a second he worries about Harry. If Harry is dealing with what he dealt with he really does need to talk to someone. And from yesterday’s experience it doesn’t sound like his friends understand.

Draco and Hazel sit there in silence for a while until softly she asks, “Do you... ever feel like you’re still broken? Like no matter how much time passes there’s cracks that you just can’t fix. Like trying to glue a plate back together. It may look sturdy again, it may act sturdy, but you can still see where it broke and you know you need to be careful because if it falls you know it will break for good.”

He replies with a soft “yes,” and they sit there in silence until Xander shows up at five.

Then they watch a horror movie, and Hazel nearly squeezes Draco’s hand off because she insisted he hold her hand through the scary bits, which for Hazel meant as soon as the movie started. Even Xander is letting out little gasps and Draco smirks as he watches Xander squeezing his eyes shut. Draco doesn’t really watch the movie. After fighting in a war and being forced to live with Voldemort nothing really scares him much. He also can’t stop thinking about Harry. He’s worried about him. He knows what it’s like to feel alone and if he hadn’t found Hazel who knows what would have happened to him. He really hopes Harry has somebody like Hazel in his life.

 

***

Back in his hotel room, Harry folds Malfoy’s clothes into a pile. Maybe he’ll stop by the café tomorrow to give them back. He gets into bed and stares at the ceiling for a while. He’s wearing a tshirt and it’s freezing in his room. He gets up to grab a hoodie but Malfoy’s hoodie is right there and it smells good. Not that Harry was smelling it or anything, it was simply an observation. He puts on the hoodie and lays back in bed. He lays in bed for a while wondering why he likes being around Malfoy so much these days. It calms him for some reason. _Maybe it’s because he’s become less of a prat so I can actually tolerate being around him_ Harry thinks. Then Harry wonders when Malfoy became so... tolerable. Harry frowns and stares at the ceiling. The last things Harry remembers before falling asleep is the smell of Malfoy’s cologne and thinking that five years can change a lot but also nothing at all.

 

***

When Draco gets home, he takes his laundry out of the dryer to put it away. He finds Harry’s clothes and groans, realizing he’s gonna have to find some way to get these clothes back to their owner. Draco doesn’t know where Harry is staying though _. I guess I’ll have to wait for him to come to the café._ Then Draco remembers that Harry has his hoodie and shorts. _He’ll probably stop by tomorrow to return them and then I can return his clothes,_ Draco thinks feeling satisfied with himself. He does some tidying up before going to bed. He folds the blanket Harry left on the couch and he picks up the perfume bottle from his counter. He grins as he remembers the look of shock on Harry’s face when Draco sprayed him. He thinks maybe he’ll bring the bottle tomorrow and do it again. He realizes he’s actually quite looking forward to seeing Harry again.

  Then he doesn’t see him for a week and a half.

 

 

 


	7. returning clothes

It’s been a week and a half since Harry last saw Malfoy. Ron and Ginny had been practically overflowing with guilt and they had attached themselves to him like glue. They told him they wanted to do whatever Harry wanted. Harry couldn’t tell them that the only thing he wanted to do was stop by Malfoy’s café. He wanted to return Malfoy’s clothes. But, that would lead to questions that Harry doesn’t feel like answering. Besides he kind of likes having something of his own. Everything he does is either with his friends or told to them and, he likes having this experience of the café and Malfoy all to himself. So, thinking this will only last two days at most, Harry decides that he can wait to return the clothes and tells Ron and Ginny the first thing that pops into his head: “Can we go to the Pier?”

   Ron and Ginny were ecstatic. They told Hermione, who agreed it was a good idea, and they went to the pier. Harry had a good time. It was beautiful there. Hermione and Ron were walking together holding hands and Ginny was pointing at the seagulls and dragging them into little shops. They bought some San Francisco hoodies and keychains like proper tourists and they watched the sunset over the water. They found a bar and drank a little bit and then they left, holding onto each other and laughing as Ginny stumbled around and tried to keep from toppling over. Ron was laughing at his sister and calling her a lightweight and Hermione was staring up at him with bright eyes. They had found some cab and piled in and Hermione and Ginny had danced through the halls of the hotel, giggling and bumping into each. Every once in a while one of them would topple over and the other would gasp and fall to the ground asking if they were okay. Ron and Harry had somehow began to play fight. They kicked at each other and ducked as the other pretended to throw a punch. It had been a good night and Harry had fell asleep feeling content and happy. He decided he should spend more time with his friends. They were there for a good time and he figured Malfoy didn’t really care to see him, remembering how Malfoy told him to go back to his hotel.

   So he spent the week with his friends. He joined in on Ginny and Ron’s bus game. He went to work with Hermione and hung out in her office. Ron showed up most days and the three of them would order lunch. Meanwhile the stack of folded clothes sat in Harry’s room. Harry hadn’t forgotten about them, but the more time that passed the more he felt uneasy about seeing Malfoy again. So he put it off. The last few days he’s fallen into a weird slump again though. He doesn’t know why this keeps happening. He’ll feel good and then a few days later everything will feel dull and uninteresting. He starts staying in his room more, flipping through tv channels. He keeps looking at the pile of clothes and each time he feels his stomach do a weird flip.

   After a few more days though he decides he needs to give them back. He’s not sure why he starts feeling nervous whenever he thinks of Malfoy. He’s worried Malfoy will be annoyed when he sees him again. So after a full morning of pacing and telling himself _I killed bloody Voldemort, I can return a pair of clothes_ , he grabs the clothes and leaves his hotel room. Ron is out visiting Hermione and Ginny usually takes a nap around this time so he doesn’t have to worry about running into them. He walks to Malfoy’s café and stands a few stores away. He doesn’t know what’s going on with him. He feels an urge to run into the café and run away simultaneously. He pushes his glasses up on his nose and standing tall he thinks _fuck it_ , and walks in. The bell chimes as he walks in and inside is a line of five people. There’s a few other people scattered throughout the shop. He spots Malfoy behind the counter making drinks. Malfoy is wearing a long sleeved dark blue shirt and black jeans. Harry thinks for a moment that dark blue is a good color on Malfoy when Malfoy turns to hand a cup of coffee to a customer and spots Harry. He stares at Harry for a few moments and, not really knowing what to do, Harry points to the clothes in his hand. Malfoy looks at the clothes and raises a hand as if to say, “five minutes.” Harry nods and watches as Malfoy turns back to work. After about five minutes there’s only 2 people in line and Malfoy has finished making 3 of their drinks. Harry had watched, a little impressed, as Malfoy flitted back and forth making drink after drink carefully and focused like he needed each one to be perfect. He says something to Xander, who’s working the cashier, that Harry can’t hear and then he exits from behind the counter and spotting, Harry nods in the direction of his office. Harry follows him and before entering Malfoy blocks Harry with his arm and knocks on the door, “Hazel I’m coming in, are you decent?”

  “What are you knocking for? Even if I wasn’t, it’s not like you’ve never seen my boob before.”

  Harry blinks in surprise and looks at Malfoy who just rolls his eyes and says, “I’m not asking for me. I couldn’t care less about whether your boobs are away or not.”

  “I’m asking because Harry is with me and I don’t need you flashing him. That might actually qualify as sexual assault.”

  Harry blushes and mutters that he’s seen breasts before.

  Malfoy looks at him and says, “Seriously Potter?”

  “I’m just saying...”

   Malfoy rolls his eyes and opens the door. Hazel waves from the floor, where she’s leaning over her baby, making faces and Harry waves back. Malfoy leans against his desk and says, “So Potter what brings you around this time.”

  Harry holds up the pile of clothes, “I’m returning your clothes Malfoy. I literally pointed to them earlier and you nodded.”

   Suddenly from the corner they hear Hazel talking in a hushed voice holding her baby close. “Oh sweetie look at this. Isn’t this strange? Huh? Yes, yes it is,” she coos.

  Harry looks at her confused and then back at Malfoy who’s staring at her like she’s gone insane.

  “What are you going on about Hazel?”

  Hazel looks up at them and her voice returning to normal says, “Nothing but, you’re addressing each other by your last names. I mean seriously who does that? Is that a British thing?”

   Malfoy sighs, “Alrighty how about you walk around the café a few times with the tip jar and try to get some extra cash.”

  “Draco Malfoy are you asking me to use my baby’s cuteness for money?”

  “Yep.”

   Hazel sticks her tongue out before leaving and whispering to her baby again, “Uncle Draco is trying to steal money from strangers. Now, everything Uncle Draco does is wrong so we never listen to him. Ok? Ok.” Then Hazel is gone and Harry and Malfoy are alone.

***

Draco holds his hand out, “Thank you for bringing me my clothes.”

  Harry glances at the clothes in his hand and then back at Draco, “Yeah, no problem. Thanks for letting me borrow them.”

  He walks forward to place the clothes in Draco’s hand. Draco walks over and places the clothes on the couch, “Don’t worry about it. It was no problem, really.” Then running his hand through his hair he says, “Sorry I don’t have your clothes with me... I didn’t know you were stopping by.”

  “Oh, that’s okay I can get them some other time. I can just try and stop by tomorrow.”

  “Yeah okay, I can bring them tomorrow.”

   Draco stares at the ground. He’s not really sure what else Harry expects him to say. He looks back up at Harry who’s just standing there as if he has all the time in the world.

  “Um, I have to get back to work Potter.”

  Harry blushes, “Oh yeah, of course sorry... I’ll just.. um... go then. See you tomorrow I guess?”

  “See you then.”

   Draco watches as Harry waves and then almost walks into the door. Muttering a quiet, “oops,” he moves to the side and exits. Draco scuffs his foot against the floor. _Yeah “See you Tomorrow” or in Potter language “a week and a half.”_

  Draco had brought Harry’s clothes in the day after Harry spent the night. Every time the door rang he had glanced up expectantly until he realized Harry wasn’t coming. He had packed up the pile of clothes to take home and Hazel had asked him whose clothes they were. Bitterly he had told her they were Harry’s but, “apparently Harry had more important things to do so now I’m stuck with his clothes until he decides it’s a convenient time to get them back.”

  Hazel had waited for him to finish ranting and then asked him why he was so upset. Then Draco had told her he wasn’t upset, he just thought that Harry could stop by like a decent human being and give him his clothes back. Hazel had snorted at him and he had glared her and asked what she thought was so funny.

  “Nothing,” she had said, “But, you’re acting like a 10 year old girl who’s crush hasn’t texted back.”

  “Excuse me? I do not have a crush on Harry Potter, I just don’t want to babysit his bloody clothes anymore,” he had snapped.

  “Okay okay. Sorry hon.”

   Something in her tone told Draco she didn’t believe him and that made him even more annoyed. The rest of the week was spent with him glancing up whenever the bell on the door rang and catching Hazel watching him with an “ _I’m right_ ” look on her face. Eventually Xander had noticed his impulsive glancing and asked him what he was waiting for. Hazel had told him that he was waiting for Harry and Xander had asked why. Hazel had raised her eyebrow at Xander and somehow they had both become fluent in raised eyebrow language because Xander had turned around and said, “Draco you like this guy?” At that point Draco had thrown a rag at them and spent the rest of the day in his office.

  Now he can’t stop asking himself if he does have a maybe small crush on Harry Potter and it’s all Potters fault. Now he feels all weird around him and if Potter had just shown up when he was supposed to none of this would have happened and Draco wouldn’t be questioning his every action. He knows Hazel and Xander will be examining his every move around Harry. _Well they won’t be able to say anything. I got my clothes and sent him off. Very professional._ He congratulates himself thinking _See I certainly don’t have a crush on Potter. That’s not even possible I’ve seen him a total of three times._ Feeling better he stands up ready to educate his two friends with basic common sense, when the door swings back open and Harry steps back in. “What are you doing? I thought you left,”Draco asks.

  “Oh well... Hazel stopped me on my way out and asked if I had gotten my clothes back... I told her they were back at your apartment and I was coming back tomorrow...”

    _What the hell are you trying to do Hazel_ Draco thinks as he waits for Harry to get to the point because if he talked to Hazel there must be a reason he’s back here. Draco is pretty sure he won’t like the reason. Holding up a pair of car keys Harry finishes, “Well she said it was nonsense to wait another day and she told me to tell you that you could borrow her car to drive us to your apartment. Oh, she also says her and Xander have everything under control so you don’t need to worry about staying.”

  Draco stares at the keys. _That sneaky little..._ Sighing he holds his hand out for the keys. “Alright, I guess it’s back to my apartment then.” He leads Harry out of the office and makes sure to glare at Hazel who’s smiling at him innocently. He gets into the car with Harry following him and a moment later they pull onto the street. They sit in silence as Draco drives.

  “When did you learn how to drive?” Harry asks.

  “Hazel taught me.” Draco replies.

  He refuses to take his eyes off the road or ask Harry any questions. Questions like, _where have you been for the past week and a half? Or what are you doing_ i _n California? Or how long are you here for? Because he certainly doesn’t care. This is just a formality. A drunk associate spends the night at your house because you’re a good person and you give them their clothes back. Nothing else to it._ Harry on the other hand seems to have a different idea. “So, how did you and Hazel meet?”

  Draco stiffens a little at that question. He knows Harry is trying to figure out how he ended up in California. Draco refuses to give away anything simply saying, “I asked her for directions.”

  “Is that... all?” Harry asks, clearly waiting for further explanation.

  “That’s it.” Draco says. He turns onto the freeway and they immediately are met with traffic. _Shit, it’s going to take at least 30 minutes to get home in this_ Draco thinks. Breaking his rule of staying focused on the road he glances at Harry who looks like he’s about to pop out with another question. Sure enough, a few moments later he bursts, “So.. how far away do you live?”

  “In this traffic, honestly sometimes more than a half hour.”

  “Oh.” Harry says.

_This is going to be a long drive_ Draco thinks.

 

***

  It’s been about seven minutes and Harry is listening to Draco sing along to the radio. He’s not sure when his brain switched from Malfoy to Draco but it did. Draco has a good voice. It’s soft and low and he’s tapping his fingers on the steering wheel along to the beat. Harry is sitting silently in the passenger seat. Draco has been acting cold and Harry wonders if he did something wrong. He’s not sure what he could have done. _Maybe he just doesn’t want to be around me_ Harry thinks. _I mean we’ve only seen each other three time, we’re not exactly friends or anything. But, on the other hand,_ Harry thinks, _even just those three days Draco had been acting warmer._

  As he listens to Draco’s soft voice he realizes he doesn’t really know Draco. They may have grown up together but they never really knew each other. Not back at Hogwarts, and Harry certainly doesn’t know the man sitting next to him. For some reason this makes Harry a bit sad. He feels stupid too. Here he is thinking what could be making Draco upset and for all Harry knows this is just Draco. _Why do I think I know him at all?_ Harry sulks in his seat and doesn’t look at Draco. After a few more minutes though he’s bored out of his mind. They’ve been in traffic for so long and Harry was looking forward to seeing Draco and he’s annoyed that Draco won’t even look at him. He thinks of something to say and he just sort of blurts out, “I went to the pier.”

  Draco stops singing for a moment and glances over at him, finally acknowledging that he’s in the car.

  “That’s nice.”

  Desperate to not get shut down again Harry starts rambling, telling Draco about the sunset and the bar.

   “The sunset was gorgeous, especially the way it reflected off the water... I could have stood there all day.”Harry glances over at Draco and watches him nod,

   “Yes the sunset there is quite wonderful.”

  He looks out at the road and Harry feels his stomach sink. _I guess we’re gonna drive in silence after all_ he thinks just as he hears Draco say, “Hazel and I used to do that actually.”

  “Do what?”

  “Oh, we used to go down to the pier on weekends. We would walk around and then head over to the dock and watch the sunset. We would stay until the sun was completely gone and then we would go home.”

   Harry looks over at Draco in surprise. That’s the most Draco has ever shared about his past. Draco is staring off into the distance and before the conversation can end Harry says, “That sounds like fun. Maybe I’ll do that.”

   Draco glances at him, “By yourself? I wouldn’t suggest that.”

  “I think I can handle being alone.”

  “Harry this is San Francisco, you can’t just stay somewhere by yourself until it gets dark. Especially if you don’t know the area.”

   “You and Hazel are only two people. How is that different than one?”

  Draco doesn’t answer for a moment, “Well Hazel and I lived by the pier... so we weren’t exactly going far.”

  “Oh. Do you live by the pier now?”

   “Did you see seagulls flying by my window when you stayed the night?” Draco asks rolling his eyes.

  “Why’d you move?”

  This time Draco turns to look at him. He stares at him for a moment as if he’s deciding whether or not to answer and then says, “Hazel moved out and I wanted to be closer to her.” Draco turns back to the road and Harry carefully stores the information he just learned into the back of his mind.

  “So what are you doing in California?” Draco asks casually.

  Harry can tell he feels exposed by the information he just shared so he decides to tell him. It’s not really anything fancy.

  “Hermione got a job offer. Somehow we all ended up tagging along.”

  Draco doesn’t say anything for a moment. He’s putting his blinker on and glancing behind him to change lanes. “Good for her.” He says. “I always imagined she would do well. She’s always been incredibly smart.”

  Harry nods, “Yeah ‘Mione is doing incredible,” he says proudly.

  Draco gets in a lane to exit. The rest of the drive is spent in a comfortable silence and eventually they pull into a parking garage for Draco’s apartment complex. They get out and a few minutes later they’re walking down a hallway. Then they’re stopping at a door and Draco opens it and Harry steps into Draco Malfoy’s apartment for the second time.

 

***

  Draco closes his apartment door and turns around to see Harry glancing around. He has been overly aware of the fact that this is the first time he’s ever been alone with Harry for a long period of time. _Well, sober Harry_. He’s not sure why he told Harry about the pier. He doesn’t really tell people things unless they’re Hazel or Xander. Draco’s not sure of a lot of things. He’s not sure why Harry is so interested in his life. He’s not sure why he sort of enjoyed talking to Harry in the car. He’s not sure why he feels nervous right now. He does know that there is absolutely no way he has a crush on Harry Potter. He thought about it on the drive over and came up with some cold hard evidence that he’s going to tell Hazel later so she’ll stop trying to play matchmaker by forcing him and Harry into opportunities to be alone. First of all Harry and Draco don’t know anything about each other. They may know each other because they went to school but they don’t really know anything about the other. Draco firmly believes that you can’t like someone that you know nothing about. Second... well it just isn’t true. _Stupid Hazel confusing my poor brain_ he thinks. Harry is nice to be around, that’s true. They get along surprisingly well when they aren’t trying to kill each other and Harry is attractive. That doesn’t mean Draco likes him though. It simply means he doesn’t hate spending time with someone that just happens to be attractive.

  Draco is distracted by his thoughts when he hears Harry ask, “who’s this...?”

  He turns to see Harry staring into Sugar’s tank. Walking over he says, “That’s Sugar. She’s my pet snake.”

  “You have a pet... snake?”

   Draco feels like this is headed into something Voldemort related and steadily he replies, “yes. She’s a blind corn snake. No one else wanted her at the pet store so I brought her home.” Draco doesn’t tell Harry that he had spent an hour looking for the right pet snake and that when he saw Sugar all alone with no one wanting to buy her, he had looked at her and immediately felt a bond. They were both unwanted.He bought her and has had her for about two years and he spoils her rotten.

  Harry says, “I don’t like snakes.” There’s an edge to his voice.

  “Yes, well you’ve always hated all things Slytherin so I didn’t expect you to jump for joy when you saw her.” Draco snaps. “Don’t worry, she’s blind and also a snake so she can’t speak. There won’t be a need for you to shove her.”

   Harry looks up frustrated, “I don’t like snakes because Voldemort used them as symbols to kill people.”

  “Oh I’m well aware, I have the mark to prove it remember?”

  Draco is getting angry. He is who he is, he’s made mistakes and he certainly isn’t going to let Harry Potter make him feel like shit because he wanted a pet snake. He didn’t get it because he’s a death eater, he got it because ever since he was little and knew he would be sorted into Slytherin he had admired the animal. He thought they were cute and they looked like noodles. So _Fuck Harry Potter_.

  Harry must sense the anger radiating off him because he turns around and says, “I think I should get my clothes and leave.”

  “Maybe you should.” Draco says. Just then he gets a text from Hazel:

   “Xander is dropping me off at home you can return my car tomorrow! No need to rush.”

   He closes his phone angrily. Draco glances at Harry who’s staring him angrily and he walks to his room and comes back with Harry’s clothes. Throwing them at Harry he says, “Here take them and leave. I don’t want you in my house. I don’t want you in my café.” He steps closer, “people like you are the reason I left England in the first place.”

  Harry’s eyes are dark green and angry, “you left England because you couldn’t take responsibility for your mistakes.”

  Draco has had enough. He feels like he’s going to pass out from pure rage, if that’s even possible. “I know I made mistakes and I've taken responsibility for them.”

  “Oh really? I didn’t realize skipping town was a way to face your mistakes.”

  Draco loses it. “No maybe it’s not you absolute fucking asshole. Maybe I did skip town because I couldn’t handle the things people were saying. But, that doesn’t mean it was easy.”

   Harry rolls his eyes, “oh I’m sure things were really hard for you after the war. Some of us actually had to stay and see the effects the war had on everyone.”

  “I’m tired of this shit. Life is hard. Life is hard for everyone, and I dealt with it the way I needed to. I’m sorry if that doesn’t fit the way you think things should be dealt with but I needed to think of myself. And don’t you dare for a second try and tell me that I didn’t struggle too. How would you know? Were you here? No.” Growing angrier Draco explodes, “Do you know who was here? _Hazel_. Don’t talk to me about watching the effects of the war. Talk to her. Talk to my best friend who helped me out of my depression. Talk to the girl that spent days sobbing at my bed in the hospital because she found me in the apartment we shared after I tried to overdose on pills. Talk to the person who brought me home and helped me learn how to live again.” Draco throws his phone at Harry and Harry looks shocked.

   He stares at Draco and at the phone. “You tried to kill yourself? Why would you do that?”

   Draco feels hysterical. He feels like he’s going to either sob or throw something. “You tried to kill me.” He says, “maybe I was trying to finish the job.”

  “Draco that was an accident I didn’t know what that spell did...”

  “It doesn’t matter. Please get out of my apartment.”

  “No.”

   Draco looks up angrily, “excuse me?”

  Harry straightens his shoulders, “I said no. You’re upset. The war is a sensitive topic. I shouldn’t have pushed you.”

  “I don’t want you to stay.”

  “Sucks. Because I’m going to,” and he plops down onto the floor.

   Suddenly Draco feels all the anger leave him. He’s embarrassed by his outburst, embarrassed that he told Harry. After a few moments of blinking back tears he takes Sugar out of her cage and sits on the ground next to Harry. Sugar wraps herself around his arm and rests her head on his shoulder. Harry and him sit like that for a long time.

  Eventually Draco puts Sugar back and without saying anything they lay on the kitchen floor. “Sorry for yelling,” Draco whispers.

   “Sorry I yelled at you for having a pet snake,” Harry says. “She’s actually quite adorable. She reminds me of a noodle.”

   Draco smiles softly at that.

  “Hey Draco?” Harry asks.

   Draco turns his head and finds himself staring into emerald green eyes. Concerned emerald green eyes. “I never wanted to kill you. I never wanted you dead.”

   Draco sighs and looks back up at the ceiling, “I didn’t mean to tell you that.”

  “I know,” Harry whispers.

   Then Harry nudges him with his arm, “For what it’s worth I’m glad you’re alive though. You smell good.”

   “Thanks...” Draco says. He feels eyes on him and he turns to see Harry staring at him. “You’re quite strange you know that Potter?”

  “I know,” Harry replies.

  They go back to staring at the ceiling and soon Draco is drifting off to sleep. Right before he loses consciousness he thinks ... _wait did Harry call me Draco?_

 

 


	8. Harry decides to get a job

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this update is so late, I’ve been super busy and haven’t had the time to get this up. Hope you guys enjoy this chapter :)

  Harry opens his eyes and finds himself staring at a ceiling. He looks over at Draco who’s asleep beside him. Draco is laying on his back with his hands folded neatly over his stomach and his legs crossed at the ankles. Harry watches his chest rise and fall slowly and feels a wave of guilt hit him. He didn’t mean to push Draco to the edge. _Why did I even say anything, it’s just a pet._  He still can’t believe what Draco told him. He tried to kill himself.Harry imagines Hazel walking in to find a limp Draco laying on a bed. He shudders and pushes the image away. Then Harry remembers what he said last night.

   He was exhausted from their fight and they had spent a long time laying on the floor. Harry remembers telling Draco that he smelled good. _What the fuck_ Harry thinks to himself. He blushes and prays to God that Draco doesn’t remember that.

  He sits up with a groan; sleeping on hardwood is not a good idea. He thinks about everything Draco said. He feels like he’s doing a puzzle and he just got a few more pieces. Draco used to live with Hazel by the pier but he moved when she did because he wanted to be near her. When Draco said that Harry had wondered why Draco would move to follow her. He sounded like he enjoyed living near the pier. After hearing that Draco tried to commit suicide it made a bit more sense. Hazel and Draco are close, Harry always knew that but now... well Harry can’t imagine what they went through together. He still doesn’t understand a lot... like why San Francisco of all places? He looks over when he hears Draco’s voice, “How long have you been awake?”

   Draco is in the process of sitting up as Harry replies, “About ten minutes.”

  “I thought you would have left by now.”  

  “Why would I leave?” Harry frowns.

  “Why would you stay?” Draco shoots back.

   Harry can tell that Draco is embarrassed by his outburst the night before. He could say something sarcastic back but he decides to just be honest, “maybe I wanted to stay here.”

  Draco blinks at him, “You... wanted to...”

   “Yes. I like spending time with you.” Harry shrugs. He realized this a while ago but, saying it out loud seems to validate it. He worries for a second that he may have just made things awkward when Draco speaks up, “Well, I can’t blame you. I’ve been told I have a sparkling personality,” Draco says as he stands up.

   He holds out a hand to pull Harry up and Harry takes it grinning. Draco’s hand is soft and warm in his and once he’s on his feet Draco smirks at him. “I’ve also been told I smell good. Hold on I’m trying to remember who told me that? Give me a second. I get thousands of compliments every minute it’s hard to keep track of everyone they come from.”

   Harry rolls his eyes as Draco paces, pretending to be deep in thought. “Okay okay. So... I take it you remember that?” Harry asks wincing slightly.

  “Oh yes, quite clearly in fact.” Draco grins widely at him.

  Harry’s mind goes blank for a second when Draco smiles at him. Coughing to try and cover up the fact that he just stared at Draco without saying anything for a good minute he changes the subject, “So, what time do you go into work?”

   “Oh shit I was supposed to open the café this morning.” Whipping around Draco looks desperately for a clock. “Shit shit shit I was supposed to be there at 9 and it’s already past 10.”

   Looking at Harry in a panic he throws Harry’s pile of clothes at him and taking off his hoodie says, “Quick change into those, we need to leave right now.”

   Harry is distracted by the scars that criss cross over Draco’s chest. Draco pulls on his hoodie and, looking around for the keys, says frantically, “there’s no time to change my pants and I’m sure as hell not stripping off my pants in front of you even if there was-,” he stops when he sees the look on Harry’s face. “Harry what’s wrong, why aren’t you moving, we have to leave.”

  “... Those scars...Did I?...”

  “Oh for Christ’s sake, yes okay, yes that was you. I don’t have time to have a whole reconciliation thing, I forgave you a long time ago.” He picks up the keys, “you can change your hoodie in the car if you want but we need to go know.”

  Harry tries to protest but Draco grabs his arm and drags him out the door and to the car.

 

***

  _Fuck, fuck, fuck,_ Draco thinks as he pulls onto the highway and slams the gas pedal down. He’s so focused driving that he doesn’t notice when Harry starts to unravel. Suddenly Harry is hyperventilating and clutching onto the hoodie in his lap for dear life. Draco looks at him surprised. He doesn’t know what’s going on. Without thinking he puts on his hazard lights and pulls off to the side of the highway. He shuts the car off and gently he reaches over and takes Harry’s arm. He places Harry’s hand so it’s resting on Harry’s stomach and then putting his hand on his own stomach he says, “Harry, look?”

  Harry looks over and Draco takes a deep breathe in, expanding his stomach and then exhales slowly, feeling his stomach contract. He does it a few more times explaining as he breathes, “it’s called belly breathing. Hazel taught me. By breathing into your stomach and making it expand and contract, it helps ground you because you can feel your stomach moving. Focusing on expanding your stomach helps slow down your breathing.”

   He watches as Harry shakily starts taking deep breathes. After a few minutes he’s called down considerably.

  “Are you okay?” Draco asks.

   “Yeah. I’m fine. Sorry.” Harry turns away blushing.

  “You don’t need to apologize Harry. You had a panic attack it’s nothing you could control. Do you want to talk about it?”

   “No.”

  “Okay, then I’m gonna continue driving to work. Are you sure you’re okay?”

  “Yeah.”

   Draco doesn’t believe him but he can’t force Harry to speak so he turns off his hazard lights and pulls back on to the road.

   When they get to the café Draco sprints inside and quickly puts the open sign up and jumps over the counter. Harry walks in slowly behind him. Draco looks around proudly. Then he notices Harry standing in the store looking a little lost. Draco pours a cup of water and brings it over to where Harry is standing. He hands it to him and Harry looks at it and says, “what is this?”

  “It’s water Harry.”

  Harry looks back up confused. His hair is a mess and he looks exhausted but Draco finds it kind of adorable. He quickly takes that feeling and smushes it down as far as it will go.

   Harry holds the water like Draco just handed him poison. “I want coffee.”

   “You just had a panic attack I’m not giving you caffeine. Drink the water.” He stands there staring down at Harry until he rolls his eyes and drinks the water.

   “Are you happy?” Harry asks.

  “Oh I’m delighted,” Draco replies.

  “Come with me, I guess I should feed you as well.” He leads Harry behind the counter and then, realizing Harry is still holding his pile of clothes, leaves for a moment to take the clothes and drop them off in his office. He hears the bell ring and jogs back out to see Harry taking an order for a customer.

   Draco groans, and walks over to see what the hell Harry thinks he’s doing. When he walks over Harry smiles sheepishly at him and asks, “one white chocolate mocha please?” Draco stares at him and then sighing grabs a cup to start making the coffee. After the woman walks away, he turns to Harry waiting for an explanation.

   “Well she came in and you weren’t here and I felt bad making her wait...”

  “Harry you can’t just take over, this is my café. This is my job.”

  “I know, I know,” Harry says running a hand through his hair and then quickly he continues, “I wasn’t trying to mess anything up, I mean I have some experience as a cashier in Ron’s family’s shop so I just wanted to help you out since there was no else here.” Harry looks up at him wincing slightly like he expects Draco to slap his wrist.

  Thinking for a second about what to do about this and then that he could really use the help and he doesn’t mind having Harry stick around he replies cautiously, “So you know how to work a cashier?”

  Harry looks up at him and replies slowly, “I do...”

  “And you don’t want to go back to your hotel?”

  Draco’s genuinely surprised when Harry says, “No.” Without even skipping a beat, like it was just on the tip of his tongue.

  “Are you sure?” Draco checks to make sure Harry heard him.

  Rolling his eyes Harry says, “Yes Draco, I’m sure. I want to stay here and help out.”

   “Okay,” Draco says.

   “Really?” Harry looks excited.

   “I could use all the help I can get,” he sighs examining Harry for a moment.

  Only Harry would be excited about working the cashier at a coffee shop.

 

***

   It’s been about an hour and Harry and Draco have created a system of sorts. Harry takes the order and places the cup with the order written on the side next to a line of other cups awaiting Draco’s attention. This way Draco doesn’t have to keep turning back and forth, he can just grab the cup and Harry pushes the cups down the line as it moves so Draco doesn’t have to reach very far. Harry is having fun. He was very embarrassed by his attack that morning.

  He couldn’t stop thinking about Draco’s scars and what if he had actually killed him. He can’t think about it without his chest constricting and a wave of fear flowing through him.

  He looks at Draco from the corner of his eye. He watches the way Draco moves back and forth, his hair is messy but still looks good somehow, and his pale grey eyes are darting around as he tries to find the things he needs. He’s pushed up the sleeves of his hoodie and every now and then he’ll brush past Harry to grab something and Harry chills will run up his body. Harry’s not sure why he’s so fascinated with Draco. Everything Draco does Harry finds himself watching attentively. Harry is broken from his Draco induced trance when he hears the bell on the door ring.

  He turns to see Xander and Hazel walk in. Xander looks confused and Hazel looks at Harry and grins.

  “Uh... Draco what is he doing running the cashier?” Xander is eyeing Harry suspiciously and Hazel slaps Xander on the arm and whispers something under her breath.

  Xander rolls his eyes at whatever Hazel said and then looks back at Harry. Suddenly Draco is standing next to him and Harry can smell his cologne and he starts to feel lightheaded when Draco says, “It turns out Harry has some experience working as a cashier and I needed some help. The place was packed.”

   “Well thank you Harry for stepping in, that was very nice of you,” Hazel says coming around the counter. She glides past Harry to hug Draco as Xander walks forward too.

   “Thanks,” he says nodding his head at Harry.

   Harry nods in response. That’s the nicest Xander has ever been to him.

  “Well, you two can go relax now. Xander and I have got it from here,” Hazel says looking around.

  Suddenly realizing that he’s been gone for a full day without telling anyone where he was going Harry says, “Oh crap I need to go back to my hotel.”

  Draco glances at him from beside Hazel, “Oh yeah, I left your clothes in my office I’ll go get them.”

   Draco turns and leaves returning with Harry’s pile. He hands them to Harry and then suddenly Hazel asks, “Draco you know, I just remembered, Ben asked me to get him a pack of those red bull energy drinks. Do you mind going to the shop and picking up a pack for me? Here I’ll give you some money.”

  She starts digging through her purse and then turning to Harry says, “my husband practically lives off those things.”

   Turning back to Draco with a $20 bill she says, “oh! You could walk with Harry.”

   Harry looks at Draco who is looking at Hazel with a strange look on his face.

  “Um... yeah that would be fine,” Harry finally says ending whatever staring contest Draco and Hazel are engaging in. Draco takes the $20 from Hazel and says, “Alright. I’ll be back soon.”

  They begin walking out and Hazel calls out cheerfully, “There’s no need to rush Draco.”

   Harry looks over as he sees Draco turn around just in time to see Hazel stick her tongue out at Draco. Harry turns back around confused so he doesn’t see when Hazel mouths, “You’ll thank me later,” and points to Harry. He also doesn’t notice when Draco blushes and flips her off.

 

***

_Fucking Hazel._

  Draco and Harry are walking down the street in silence. Draco is trying very hard not to look at Harry hoping that Harry didn’t see his exchange with Hazel earlier. Draco stares at his shoes as he walks going over the scribbles and drawings that he’s memorized in his head.

   When he and Hazel got enough money, the first thing Hazel wanted was to go shopping. Draco didn’t exactly have many options in the clothing department either so he had agreed. They had gone to some mall and picked out a few shirts and each of them had gotten one pair of pants. They still had money left that Hazel had been telling him throughout the day she was saving to buy a pair of shoes. When they got to the shoe store Draco had no intention of buying anything but, he had wandered around and found a pair of white vans that he actually quite liked. Hazel bought a pair of boots and then told Draco to use the rest of her money to buy the shoes. Draco didn’t want to spend Hazel’s money and he told her no but she simply said “fine” and then bought them herself. Later in their apartment Draco had tried on his new shoes and Hazel had smirked at him and told him, “See, I knew you wanted them.” He’s not sure how it happened. He thinks they got drunk one night and Hazel was talking about when she broke her arm and a bunch of people had signed her casts and it had looked so cool with all the scribbled names. They had looked at his shoes and Hazel grabbed a sharpie. She had written, “To: Draco, the love of my life” and then signed her name in big swirly letters. Over time when they got bored she would write or draw on them. Things like “ _fuck you bitch_ ,” “ _Sunny, sunny, sunny,_ ” “ _Charlie Kelly here - cat enthusiast_ ,” and little drawings of birds and flowers and swirls.

  These aren’t the original pair of graffitied shoes. Those got worn out a long time ago. Draco still has them in his closet though and now his pair of shoes is full of messages from both Hazel and Xander. Ben even wrote something and when Kyla was born Hazel had signed her name on his shoes as well. They’re still covered in Hazel’s random drawings and lines from shows that they love. Xander added a few designs as well, he’s the one who wrote, “ _it’s a cigarette baby_ ,” on the back of the right shoe and tried to draw a lion on the front. He’s lost in thought when he hears Harry from beside him, “What’s on your shoes?”

  Draco looks up realizing that Harry has also been staring at Draco’s shoes this entire time.

  “Oh, Hazel and Xander like to write on them and draw stupid little things when we get bored or drunk.”

   “And... you’re okay with that?”

  Draco looks at Harry with a frown, “Why wouldn’t I be?”

  “I’ve been in your house Draco, everything is so neat and organized.”

  “So?”

   “Well... youdont exactly seem like the type of person who likes anything to be messy or... not clean.”

   Draco scoffs, “My shoes are artistically messy,” he says proudly. “Besides I like seeing the little things they write.”

   “I get that.” 

   Harry sighs as they continue walking, falling into a comfortable silence. Every now and then Harry’s shoulder bumps against Draco’s and Draco feels warm and happy. Draco realizes that he’s walking for a reason and suddenly stops, “Um, Harry... where is your hotel? Because I need to go to the shop which is where we’ve been walking towards but I don’t know if... you’re in a different area...” Draco looks around as Harry stops a few paces ahead of him.

  “Oh... my hotel is that way.” Harry points in the opposite direction of where they’ve been walking.

   “What? Why didn’t you say something? I wouldn’t have gone this way.” Draco turns around to start walking in the opposite direction.

   “Well... I thought I would just go to the store with you and then to my hotel...”

   Draco turns around at that. _Oh_. Draco runs a hand over the back of his neck, “Oh, um okay. Are you sure? Because we can still turn back...”

  “I’m sure. Besides Hermione’s going to bite my head off for being out so late and I don’t feel like being yelled at.” Harry begins walking again. They’re at an intersection and he turns to go right.

  “Harry? You’re walking the wrong way, the shop is straight ahead.” Draco watches as Harry turns around and walks back.

  “Oh oops.”

   They get to the little grocery store and they walk along the aisles into Draco finds the packs of red bull. Harry is looking around at the other drinks and tries to grab a bottled coffee. Draco smacks his hand before he can grab it and Harry turns to him in surprise, “What the hell was that for?”

   Draco looks up from where he’s struggling to pick up the pack of drinks. _Stupid Ben and his addiction to energy drinks, and having to buy them in bulk._

  “You can’t drink that.” Draco says.

  “Why not?”

  Standing up Draco sighs and grabs the bottle, “This is not coffee from my café, which means whoever made this is my competition. If you’re going to be drinking my coffee, you can _only_ drink my coffee.”

  Harry looks at him like he’s insane. “Are you being serious?”

  “Yes. Why would you even want that trash anyways. You know we have better coffee.”

   Harry nods and bites his lip, “Yeah well you’re right about that.”

   Draco has tuned him out because he’s finally gotten the pack off the ground and now he’s struggling not to drop it.

  Suddenly Harry grabs the pack from his arms and Draco looks up ready to protest but Harry says, “Don’t even think about it. You know you were going to pull a muscle trying to carry this.”

  Defiantly Draco says, “I was _not_ ,” as he follows Harry out of the aisle who’s carrying the pack like it weighs nothing.

 

***

  Harry and Draco are standing outside Harry’s hotel. After leaving the grocery store they swung by the café to drop off the pack of drinks Hazel asked for. Hazel had thanked them and laughed when Harry explained how Draco could barely lift it off the ground as Draco rolled his eyes and grumbled that he _did_ get it off the ground. Even Xander had laughed at that and he had even turned to Harry and said, “Yeah, poor Draco has the weakest arms I’ve ever seen. He can barely pick up the coffee mugs.”

   Draco had proceeded to kick Xander in the leg and say, “Well that is just not true.”

   Then they had left again after Xander had said something about “violence not being the answer Draco,” and Draco saying, “well in this case it was.”

   They walked to Harry’s hotel mostly in silence. Harry was pretty nervous about seeing everyone. He’s sure he’s going to get yelled at.

   Now they’re lingering outside the hotel and Draco is telling him, “Just go in, I’m sure they won’t yell at you.”

  Harry turns to look at Draco.

   “Okay they might yell at you but you’re a grown man just go in.”

   It’s nearing 4 and Harry is hungry so he turns to Draco and says, “How about we go get something to eat?”

  Draco rolls his eyes. “Are you really this scared Harry? Just go in, I’m sure you’ll make it out alive.”

  Dramatically Harry looks up at the sky and says, “I’m not sure. This might be my last day and here you are refusing my last wish.”

  “Seriously?”

  Harry grins at him.

  “Here, give me your phone.”

  Obediently Harry hands it over. They all bought one when they were packing to leave so they would be able to stay in touch. He has three numbers in there: Hermione, Ron and Ginny. Draco types something into his phone and hands it back. “There you go. I have to get back, I feel bad leaving Hazel and Xander for so long. If you’re about to get killed just text me and I’ll be sure to call the cops.”

  Harry looks down at his phone. He has four numbers in there now. The last one says “Draco.” He smiles at that and then looks back at Draco. “Thank you, how kind.”

  Draco turns to leave, “I can’t have the Savior’s death on my hands now can I?” He waves and starts to walk away as Harry calls out, “Draco!”

  Draco stops and turns.

  “Um, good night.” Harry waves.

  Draco simply nods and waves back before walking down the street.

  Harry takes a deep breathe and walks into the hotel preparing himself for the scolding he’s about to get.

 

***

  It’s 11 pm and Draco is home in bed. He’s watching tv when he hears his phone chime. He picks it up and sees a strange number has texted him. Confused, he opens the text to see a simple message: “Still alive :)”

  Smiling Draco replies, “glad to here it” and adds Harry into his contacts. Then he watches tv until he falls asleep on the couch.

 

 


	9. all I know is I like your company

  Harry is sitting on the couch with Ron flipping through TV channels. Hermione is laying on the bed reading, and Ginny is sitting on the floor humming something, and it makes Harry think about the way Draco sang in the car. Soft and low and distracted by the traffic around them.

  Harry hasn’t seen Draco in a day or two. When he got back to the hotel Hermione and Ron had been pretty upset. They wanted to know where he was and why he didn’t at least text them. He had apologized but he didn’t tell them where he went. He doesn’t care if they know he’s hanging out with Draco, he just knows that they won’t like it. He also doesn’t want them to find out about the café because he’s sure they’ll storm right over to see if Draco Malfoy is really there. Harry has a feeling that Draco doesn’t exactly want anyone from his past to know where he is and Harry understands that. Draco started a new life, he doesn’t need his past barging into it. So, Harry had simply said he was out with a friend and when he was pressed further he told them that’s all he was going to say. Hermione had scoffed at him, clearly frustrated and asked if he could think about them for a second and how worried they had been when he hadn’t come back. He could tell she was upset and he felt bad. He hugged her and apologized and told them not to worry. He was safe, he just didn’t want to give away any more details. They hadn’t been happy with it but they had accepted it. Hermione had asked him to “Please just send us a text saying your okay.” Harry had agreed. Then he had texted Draco. 

  Since Harry first texted Draco they had continued a steady thread of texts throughout the day before. Their conversation looked something like this: 

 **Harry** : I desperately need coffee

 **Draco** : This involves me how?

 **Harry** : Unless you happen to have a second café in the lobby of my hotel, I can’t get coffee. According to you. :/

 **Draco** : Then come to the café

 **Harry** : I can’t. Hermione wants to spend the day with me.

 **Draco** : Ah I see. Harry please don’t tell me you texted me to ask permission to buy coffee.

 **Harry** : If I did what would the answer be?

 **Draco** : No. :)

 **Harry** : I could buy a cup and not tell you.

 **Draco** : You must certainly could not.

 **Harry** : Of course I could

 **Draco** : I’m 95% sure you’d tell me within 5 minutes of buying a cup.

 **Harry** : I would not.

 

_7 minutes later-_

 

 **Harry** : I bought coffee

 **Draco** : You are way too predictable Potter.

 

  Since then they hadn’t really texted much. Harry’s not sure what he would even say. He hasn’t had coffee all day though and he’s planning to leave soon to go to the café. He really misses the coffee there. After about 30 minutes of arguing with Ron over who would win in a cooking competition after watching some show called “Chopped,” and Hermione piping up to tell them that neither of them would win because neither of them can cook for shit, Harry gets up and announces he’s leaving.

  Ginny glances up from where she’s laying on the ground, “Gonna go see your ‘friend?’” She makes quotation marks in the air around the word friend. “Yes...” Harry replies slowly inching towards the door. All eyes are on him as he backs up opening and closing the door, calling out that he’ll remember to text them if it gets late. Once he’s out he pulls out his phone to text Draco. He’s finally thought of something to say.

 **Harry** : Are you working right now?

 **Draco** : If babysitting Hazel’s child counts as work then yes. Why?

 **Harry** : I thought I’d stop by the café

 **Draco** : Ok. I’m in the back office right now.

 **Harry** : Ok.

  Harry walks a little faster than usual as he heads out of the hotel and towards the café. He’s excited to see Draco again and when he gets to the café he pushes the door open eagerly. Inside Hazel is taking orders and two teenagers that Harry’s never seen before are running around behind her making drinks. Hazel doesn’t see Harry when he comes in and he doesn’t want to bother her as she works, so he slips past the line of people and heads towards the office. He walks in to find Draco sitting behind his desk with one of those baby holding devices attached to the front of him. Inside the device is a sleeping baby and Draco is leaning back in his chair, swiveling back and forth slowly as he clicks things on the computer.

  Draco is wearing a purple shirt and his eyes glance up when he hears the door open. Harry closes the door behind him and waves.

  “Hello Harry... I thought you wanted a cup of coffee.” Draco looks at Harry’s hands that are currently not holding anything.

  “Oh yeah... um the line was really long.”

   Harry had actually forgotten about the whole coffee thing.

   Draco glances at the computer, “Yeah it gets pretty busy around this time.” He looks back up at Harry who’s still lingering by the door. “You can come in, you know.”

   Harry walks to the couch and sits down blushing slightly. He runs a hand through his hair and asks, “So who are the two workers?”

  “Hm?” Draco looks up at him confused.

   “The two teenagers. I’ve never seen them before, are they new?”

   “Oh... no, no. That’s Liz and Ted they come in during the afternoons.”

  “Oh... What are you doing on the computer?”

  “Well I’m looking for something to buy Hazel but then I realized she also uses this computer and I don’t want her to know what I’m buying her so right now... nothing.”

  “Oh, is Hazel’s birthday coming up?”

  “Yes, it’s in a week and I have no idea what to buy her,” Draco frowns. “I’ve known her for five years, I know absolutely everything there is to know about that girl and I can’t think of a single thing.” He sighs and leans back looking dejected, “I’m shit at giving gifts.”

  Then Draco looks down at the baby on his chest and goes, “Oops, I need to stop cursing in front of her.”

  “Draco she’s asleep, she can’t hear you.”

  Harry smiles as Draco fusses with the straps as he says, “You never know Harry, maybe she can hear me when shes asleep. Maybe it’s a weird baby thing.”

  Harry laughs softly, “I don’t think so.”

  Draco looks over at him, “Do you have any gift ideas for Hazel?”

  “I’ve had about two conversations with her.”

   “I know but I’m running out of ideas.”

   “Well we can go shopping if you want...”

  “Huh?”

   “You’re not even doing work, we can go to a mall and find something for Hazel. Just wander around until you see something. That’s how I buy all my presents,” Harry says leaning forward.

   Draco looks at the ceiling, “Okay. We have to steal Hazel’s car and child though... It’ll be fine let’s go.”

   Harry stands up and waits for Draco as he slowly gets up holding the baby close to his chest.

   “You said there was a long line?”

   “Yep.”

   “Perfect, she won’t see us sneaking out.” Draco says with grin as he holds up a pair of car keys. 

 

***

   Harry Potter is terrible at stealing cars and babies. They were almost out the door when Harry bumped into a chair and turned to apologize to it. Draco had watched him in horror wondering who this lunatic he was about to go shopping with was when Hazel noticed them. She had called them over and after taking one look at Harry’s guilty face (she didn’t bother looking at Draco for information anymore, she found out quite early he could make his face void of all emotion if he wanted) had asked them what they were doing. Harry had stood there with his mouth open stuttering until she looked at Draco with her arms crossed.

  “Why are you sneaking out with my baby. OhmyGod Draco do you have my car keys too?”

  That was the end of their attempt and Draco had confessed that they may have been trying to leave with her car but, they were only taking the baby because she asked him to babysit. She had rolled her eyes and held her hand out for the keys and then smacked Draco’s arm and told him if she caught him trying to steal her child or car again she would call the cops.

  Now they’re back in the office and Draco is staring at Harry.

  “Seriously you apologized to a _chair_.”

  Harry blushes, “I bumped into it...”

   Rubbing his temples Draco sighs, “I cannot believe that we got caught because you apologized for bumping into a chair.”

  He looks at Harry and Harry just shrugs.

  Draco sits down next to Harry on the couch, “whatever, I probably wouldn’t have found anything anyways.”

  He looks down at Kyla and rubs her tiny hand with his thumb.

   “We could go another day.” Harry says, and Draco looks up to see Harry watching Kyla.

  “Ok,” Draco agrees. He looks back at Kyla and then looks back at Harry. “This is weird.”

   Harry looks at him, “What is?”

  “This. Us... being friends or acquaintances or whatever this is called.”

  Harry nods, “Yeah I have to admit I never thought I’d be sitting in Draco Malfoy’s café, having a conversation with him.”

   “I never thought I’d try to kidnap a baby and steal a car with Harry Potter,” Draco says grinning.

  Harry looks at him and they start laughing.

   “Yeah,” Harry says as he catches his breath, “I never imagined that either.”

  He’s resting his head on the couch and Draco looks over to see Harry smiling at him. Draco’s stomach flips and he stares into Harry’s green eyes, feeling calm and scared at the same time. Draco forces himself to look away just as Kyla begins to wake up. She starts crying and he stands up and starts walking around the room, bouncing her up and down softly. Hazel will be finished with her shift soon and Draco will have to take over for closing.

  Turning back to Harry he clears his throat and over Kyla’s cries says, “I’m going to take over for Hazel pretty soon, I don’t know if you wanted to leave...”

  Harry’s about to answer when the door opens and Hazel walks in. “You’re turn to close darling she says,” addressing Draco.

   “I know, can you help me out of this baby carrier?”

   Hazel holds Kyla as Draco untangles himself from the strange contraption. He smooths his shirt down and kisses Hazel’s cheek, “Let me walk you out.”

  “Fine, but only because you owe me for trying to steal my child and car.”

   Draco smiles as he holds the door open for her, “Seriously I don’t know what goes on in your head sometimes.”

   He notices Harry behind them and he feels his stomach sink as he realizes that Harry is leaving too. As always Hazel kisses him on the cheek and waves goodbye and he watches her walk to her car. He turns around expecting Harry to say goodbye as well but Harry isn’t behind him anymore. He looks around confused and spots him in line for a cup of coffee. He smiles and heads behind the counter to work. When Harry gets to the front of the line Draco leans back and grabs a cup, writing “vanilla latte” on it as Harry orders. Harry tries to hand him cash but he shakes his head and pushes Harry’s hand away. “I’m not going to make you pay Harry.”

  Harry looks at him confused,  “Why not?”

  Draco glances at him and leans forward across the counter, “friends drink for free.”

   Harry keeps standing there and Draco has to tell him to please step out of line so the man behind him can order. Harry says, “Oh yeah sorry,” and steps aside. 

   Harry stays until closing time. Things start to slow down and Draco watches him drink his coffee and then sit at a table staring out. When no customers are in line Harry appears at the counter and asks Draco how it’s going. Each time Draco’s rolled his eyes and said, “Harry you’ve been here the whole time.” Eventually Harry ends up sitting behind the counter on the ground by Draco’s feet. Draco is getting tired and his patience for customer service is running thin and he has to kick Harry a few times when he starts chuckling at the sound of Draco’s strained “I need to be nice to you but doing so is physically painful” tone when one of the customers spends ten minutes asking about different drinks on the menu only to say they decided they didn’t want coffee and walk out. Liz and Ted leave and Harry is asking Draco if he thinks he could win in an episode of chopped.

  Draco looks down at him confused, “Why in the world are you wondering about that?”

   “Well Ron and I were arguing earlier today. He thinks he would win but, he can’t cook for shit. Hermione cooks everything for them. So I said I would win and he said that was bull but I actually make food sometimes...”

   Draco stares at Harry as he continues to ramble.

   “You have some weird conversations with your friends,” he says. “By the way are you going to get yelled at for being out late again? Is it past your curfew?”

   Harry rolls his eyes. “I don’t have a curfew you dick, Hermione just worries about me.”

  “I’ll be sure to get you home by nine,” Draco replies smiling and Harry nudges his leg with an elbow and pouts. Draco laughs and glances at the clock, relaxing.  It’s time to close.

  He stands up and stretches, and begins cleaning up the counter. Harry pops up from the ground and asks how he can help. Looking around Draco says, “You could collect the mugs and wash them...” Harry nods and starts picking up mugs and carrying them to the back room to be washed. Draco cleans the counter and the tables and soon Harry reappears and helps him stack chairs. They turn off the lights and leave.

   Once they’re outside Draco and Harry stand there for a bit. Harry asks if they should try to steal Hazel’s baby again tomorrow and Draco laughs and says probably not.

   “You’re really good with the baby, you know?” Harry says suddenly, becoming serious.

   “Thanks,” Draco stares at the ground and feels his cheeks turn pink. Neither of them are moving and Draco doesn’t really feel like leaving but, he knows they can’t just stand outside forever. “I should probably take you back to your hotel, with your curfew and all,” he says smirking at Harry.

   Harry chuckles, “Yeah I guess I should get back.”

   They stand there for another minute without moving when at the same time Draco says, “We could go back to my place or something...” and Harry says, “Could Icrash at your place?”

  Draco clears his throat and says, “Okay well let’s go then.”

 

***

  Harry and Draco are watching “Chopped.” Draco is pacing behind the couch yelling at the contestants, “Are you stupid? You completely forget the one basket item, and now you’re trying to remake the entire dish in under a minute.”

   Harry laughs from the couch where he’s sitting, “Calm down Draco it’s just a show.”

  “I don’t know how you watch this, these people are absolute idiots. I could cook better than that.”

  They look at each other and the next thing Harry knows he’s jumping over the couch and racing Draco into the kitchen. Draco shoves him to the side as he opens cupboards and then groans, “Damnit I have no groceries. Unless you want some toast.”

   Harry sighs disappointed.

   “Well it wouldn’t have worked anyways,” Draco continues, “we would need a third person to judge the food.”

   “We have Sugar,” Harry says pointing to the tank.

   Rolling his eyes Draco says, “Sugar eats dead mice Harry. Which is pretty much what I assume your cooking would taste like, so there would be a clear unfair advantage.”

   “I can cook,” Harry protests, crossing his arms.

   “Whatever you say,” Draco says yawning. He glances at the clock, “We should probably get some sleep.”

   Harry tries to hide his disappointment as he says, “Oh okay, yeah of course. You’ve had a long day....”

  Draco nods and leaves for a moment, returning with a blanket. He runs a hand through his hair and says, “I don’t care if you watch TV, just keep the volume low and don’t forget to turn it off before you fall asleep.”

  Harry nods, “Okay... I’ll probably just go right to sleep...”

  Draco turns around, rubbing the back of his neck, “Um yeah so goodnight?”

   “Yeah... goodnight.”

   Harry watches as Draco walks down the hall and hears the door shut. He looks down at the blanket in his hand and goes over to the couch. He remembers to text Hermione that he’s okay and then he lays down and stares at the ceiling.

   He’s wide awake and he sits up bored wondering if Draco fell asleep when suddenly he hears a door open and Draco appears in the room.

  “I couldn’t sleep,” he says.

  “Yeah me too.”

   Draco plops down onto the couch next to Harry and Harry feels himself fall slightly towards where Draco has sat down. They’re arms are touching and neither of them make an effort to move. Draco turns on the tv and Harry half watches the reality show because being so close to Draco is making his brain go fuzzy. He wants to say something to break the comfortable silence they’re in but he doesn’t know what to say.

  He feels himself start to get tired and he tries to force himself to stay awake but the warmth from the blanket and Draco, and the soft noise of the TV finally pulls him into sleep.

 

***

   Draco wakes up and feels something fluffy tickling his neck. There’s also some large object against his side. He glances down confused to see Harry curled up next to him, resting his head on his shoulder. Something inside Draco screams and he lays his head back being careful not to wake Harry up.

   Last night he had fully intended on going right to sleep but he couldn’t stop thinking about Harry out here on his couch and after tossing around for a while he got bored and decided to check if Harry was sleeping. He wasn’t. Draco doesn’t really know what to make of everything that’s happening. He’s not sure when Harry and him crossed the territory into friends or if they even are friends.

  He doesn’t work today. Maybe he can finally go look for a present for Hazel. Maybe Harry will go with him... Draco frowns and curses the universe for being so confusing. He doesn’t even know what’s going on with himself. He wants to be around Harry, that’s all he knows. He doesn’t know why or where it came from. All he knows is he feels better when Harry’s there. Safer, happier.

   It’s a few hours later and Draco and Harry are heading to Target. Harry suggested a mall but Draco countered by saying that going to Target is basically the same as going to a small mall so that was that. Draco had made eggs and toast for breakfast along with coffee and he had presented it to Harry dramatically.

  “I told you I could cook,” He had said proudly.

  Harry had blinked at him, “Draco you made eggs and toast, that’s not cooking.”

  Draco had threatened to take the plate away and Harry and held up his hands in defeat, “Okay, okay. I would still beat you in chopped though.”

   Sitting down Draco said, “Oh Harry, don’t lie to yourself it’s not healthy.”

  Harry had glared at him and he had just grinned.

   When they arrive at Target, Draco heads over to the $1 section and looks around the containers. Coming up behind him, Harry says, “Draco I know for a fact that you have money, and you’re looking for a gift in the dollar section?”

   Draco shrugs, “You said I just needed to find something that I think Hazel would like, that doesn’t mean I have to spend all my money on the girl.”

   They end up in the makeup section and Draco finds a box of face masks that he thinks Hazel will like. They wander around for a bit more and Harry keeps disappearing only to reappear with some new item he’s excited about.

   Draco turns when he hears Harry’s voice, “Look what I found! Do you think Hazel would like this?”

   Draco turns to see Harry holding a box of tampons.

   “Are you fucking kidding me Harry?”

   “What?” Harry says looking confused.

   Draco rubs his head, “Harry are you aware of what tampons are? Do I need to explain this to you because I really don’t feel like it...”

   “Of course I know what they are, I’m not an idiot.”

   Draco raises an eyebrow. “Harry the last thing you brought over was a bag of peanuts.”

   “How was I supposed to know she was allergic?”

   “Well you should have known that _peanuts_ are not something you give as a gift. I’m starting to question your ability of buying presents.”

  Harry frowns, “My friends love my presents.”

   “Well I’m sure that’s what they tell you.”

   As they walk to the register Harry continues to explain how tampons would be a great gift and,“You know what Draco I’m going to buy them for her myself because they are both useful and a necessity.” Then Harry bought the tampons as Draco bit his tongue to keep from laughing as Harry defiantly held the box proudly. 

 

***

   It’s been five days and Harry has gone to see Draco every day. He’s still not sure exactly what Draco’s schedule is so he usually texts him to figure out where he is. He still hangs out with Ron and Ginny.

  Recently they found a gym and the three of them have started going together. They had offered to buy a membership for Hermione but she had crinkled her nose and said she would rather fall down a set of stairs. Harry had thought it was a bit dramatic but, nevertheless they agreed she could stay at the hotel. He still goes to lunch with Hermione and Ron, and recently Ginny and him have begun binge watching a show called “Grey’s Anatomy.” He usually stops in during the afternoons. Hazel and Xander are used to seeing him by now. Xander still doesn’t really talk to him but Hazel always greets him warmly and asks how his day was. Sometimes Draco and him sit in the office and talk, sometimes they bicker about random things. The other day they got into an argument over whether or not Disneyland was somewhere worth going. Draco said it was bullshit and he hated it and Harry had told him he was acting like the Grinch which had led to Harry having to explain _who_ the Grinch was and then Draco getting offended and not talking to Harry for 10 minutes. Sometimes Xander and Hazel would come into the office and the three of them would get into a discussion about something that Harry wasn’t a part of and he would sit there awkwardly not knowing what to do with himself.

   Harry helped Draco close up two more times and one night they found a bottle of wine in storage and they had drank it in Draco’s office until they were both drunk and decided to go to Target. Draco tried climbing into a cart outside and Harry started pushing him around the parking lot. They got kicked out before even getting inside and they had ended up back at Draco’s apartment laying on the ground. They had let Sugar out and she was curled up on Draco’s stomach as they talked about random things. Draco complained about all the annoying people he had encountered at work and Harry had laughed and tried to explain the storyline of Grey’s Anatomy to Draco. Draco had stumbled up to put Sugar away and they had passed out on the couch. Harry was having fun with Draco. His friends kept asking who he kept hanging out with and Hermione had even said that they noticed his mood change and asked if he was dating anyone. He had blushed and said, “No,” and then immediately left.

  He spent the night at Draco’s again. This time Draco slept in his room so Harry wakes up alone on the couch. He wanders around the apartment and makes himself some toast. After a while he gets bored of being the only one awake and he remembers it’s Hazel’s birthday.

  Draco was running back and forth all night making her a cake and a card. Harry was sitting at the table watching him run around and after it hit midnight and Draco started stressing about whether or not the restaurant would have seating Harry had thrown him over his shoulder as Draco asked him _what the hell he thought he was doing_ and to _put him down._ Harry had ignored Draco and tossed him in his room and ordered him to go to sleep. Draco had tried to slip back out but Harry had sat in front of the door. Draco had called him a bastard but had gotten into bed and Harry had waited until Draco was asleep to leave.

   He looks at the clock noticing it’s almost 11. He knows Draco goes into work at 12 and Draco will be a ball of stress if he doesn’t wake up soon so, Harry waits 10 minutes and then walks into Draco’s room. “Draco?” He stands over the lump underneath a pile of covers. He sighs. Draco is the heaviest sleeper he’s ever met.

  He goes into the bathroom and grabs the water-filled perfume bottle that Draco and him and been using a few days before when they were watching YouTube videos on Draco’s laptop. Draco started to spray Harry everytime he didn’t like what Harry said. Harry had managed to wrestle the bottle away and had proceeded to chase Draco around the apartment until they both were soaking wet because they had ditched the bottle and turned to pouring whole glasses of water on each other. They had spent a good hour cleaning that mess up.

  Harry walks back into Draco’s bedroom and pulls back the covers. Draco looks so peaceful and he gets that warm fluttery feeling he’s been getting the last few days and he sprays Draco with the water. Draco wakes up and tries to hide back under the covers but Harry sprays him again.

  “Rise and shine,” Harry sings as he pulls the covers back again.

  Draco glares at him. “I hate you.”

  Harry just grins. 


	10. happy birthday

  It’s Hazel’s birthday and Draco is stressed. He’s at work and the café is only open until five today because Draco, Hazel, Xander and Ben are going to dinner and then out for drinks. Harry is also tagging along, after Hazel invited him a few days before. Harry went back to his hotel after getting a coffee so that he could get ready, Hazel isn’t working at all today and Xander should be here any minute. Draco needs the help. He’s running back and forth and his mind is going a mile a minute with the list of things he needs to do. He has work and then he needs to find time to close, get home, change into something more formal and then get to the restaurant and make sure they get a table. He’s trying to focus on one thing at a time but everytime he looks at the clock he feels his anxiety clutch his chest as he worries about time.

  Finally Xander shows up.

  He walks in casually and Draco sighs in relief.

   “Thank God, I was losing my mind,” he whispers to Xander, so the customer in line won’t hear him.

  Then he turns back to the customer and putting on a smile asks, “Hi! How can I help you this morning?”

  He hears Xander snort behind him at the change in tone and he cringes at how fake he sounds. He really isn’t in the mood to deal with people today. Soon Xander and him are both busy and when there’s finally a lull in customers they have a moment to rest. Leaning against the counter Draco asks, “So what did you get Hazel?”

  Xander sighs, “Uh, I got her some mascara and that eyeliner she always wears. She was complaining about running out of it. I also got her a candle for the house.”

  “You didn’t happen to pick up a ring too?” Draco teases. Xander had feelings for Hazel when they first met. He’s moved on, obviously, but Draco still likes to tease him.

   “Ha ha,” Xander says crossing his arms, “what about you? Did you pick up a ring for Harry while you were shopping for Hazel?”

  “I have no idea what you’re talking about. Since you asked though, I bought Hazel some face masks, some socks for Kyla, chocolate and a bottle of vodka. I also ordered a bouquet of roses.”

  Xander shakes his head, “You’re still gonna deny that you have feelings for him, huh?”

  “I’m not denying anything.”

  “Whatever you say man.”

  Draco frowns. Hazel and Xander have been commenting on his and Harry’s relationship for a while now. He wishes they would stop. Maybe he feels something more for Harry but he can’t sort out his own feelings if other people are telling him how to feel.

  The bell on the door rings and Draco turns to greet the customer. Fake smile and all.

 

***

  Harry examines the outfit he’s picked out. Black pants and a short-sleeved green button up. Draco told him to dress nice, but not too nice. I hope this is what he meant, Harry thinks as he changes. He looks at himself in the mirror, tucking in his shirt and running his hands through his hair trying to make it look semi-decent. He stands there for a while nervously cracking his knuckles. Then he steps out of his room and knocks on Ron and Hermione’s door.

  Hermione opens it and he steps in. Ron looks up from the couch as and Hermione takes a step back at the door, as they both stare at him.

  “Harry, mate where are you going? Why are you dressed up like that?” Ron asks.

  Fiddling with the buttons on his shirt Harry replies, “I’m going out tonight... I told you guys the other day...”

   Ron nods, “Yeah but you look like you’re going on a date or something. Wait,” Ron sits forward, “Harry are you going on a date?”

  “What? No of course not! I’m just going out... it’s just a dinner with some friends.”

   Hermione frowns, “Who are these people Harry? I don’t mind that you’re hanging around them but... you won’t tell us anything about them. We don’t even know a name.”

  “I know, um... my friend Hazel. It’s her birthday today.”

  “Oh, you met a girl?”

  “No, Hermione it’s not like that,” Harry sighs, “She’s married, I met her through someone else... it’s a long story. I just wanted to know if I looked okay.”

  Hermione stares at him and then smiling softly she says, “Yes Harry, you look very handsome.”

  Harry nods quickly, “Thank you, I have to go now. Thank you.”

  As he’s leaving he hears Ron start to ask something but, Hermione quickly shushes him and whispers something Harry can’t hear. Harry goes back to his room and picks up the bag with Hazel’s present. He’s a little nervous now to give it to her... but he already bought it. Looking at the clock he realizes he needs to leave so he texts Draco to let him know he’s on his way and then he walks out.

When Harry gets to the café he feels the flutters start up in his stomach. He starts to walk in and almost runs into Draco head on.

  “Oh sorry,” they say at the same time.

  “Oh Harry,” Draco says looking at him, “sorry I got your text and I was gonna wait for you outside.”

  Stepping out of the way Harry says, “No that’s okay... Are you ready to go?”

  “Yep,” Draco says stepping out. He looks Harry up and down and suddenly Harry feels self-conscious about his outfit.

   “I didn’t have a lot to work with, I hope this fits the dress code,” he says.

  Draco meets his eyes and Harry sees a flash of something there before suddenly going blank, “No, you look good.”

  Harry feels himself blush and he awkwardly shifts from one foot to the other, “Thank you.”

  “No problem... um, we should probably go I still have to change and grab Hazel’s present and we need to get to the restaurant early because I need to make sure there’s a table and- “

  “Draco.” Harry cuts off Draco’s rambling, “it’s gonna be okay, okay?”

  Draco nods, “yeah okay.”

***

   Draco is in his room changing. He’s wearing black slacks and a black long sleeve shirt with a black tie. He’s dressed a little more formal than he needs to be but he likes when he gets to dress fancy. He loops his belt around his waist and takes a look in the mirror, running a hand through his wavy hair. He straightens his tie nervously, _do I look okay? Yes, of course I do. Why am I worried about that I have so many other things to focus on.... Does my shirt look wrinkled?_

  Draco is staring at himself in the mirror frowning at a small wrinkle on his shirt when he hears a knock at the door. “Come in!” He calls without turning around, trying to straighten out the wrinkle. Harry walks in and Draco turns to him to ask what time it is when he looks up and feels himself go lightheaded.

   When Harry showed up to get him, Draco had been a nervous wreck. He knows Harry looked nice but, now that Draco isn’t stressed out he actually looks at him for what feels like the first time.

 

  Harry looks amazing. The green in his eyes look so bright against the green of his shirt and Draco can’t stop staring at him. At the way his messy hair somehow looks adorable and the way his muscles stand out against the fit of the shirt. Draco’s mind goes blank as he and Harry just stand there. He notices Harry looking him up and down and immediately becomes self-conscious, fiddling with his tie, he breaks the silence with a cough, “Uh did you need anything Harry?”

  Harry jumps and blushes when Draco stares at him confused.

  “S-sorry, you scared me. Uh no there’s nothing, oh wait actually there was um I forgot what I was gonna tell you, I had something to tell you,” Harry rambles desperately looking around the room like the answer will be laying around somewhere.

  “Okay... well if you remember you can just let me know... by the way what time is it? We should probably get going soon.”

  “YES!” Draco jumps back at the sound of Harry’s voice.

  “Oh sorry, sorry. I remember, I came in to tell you we have to go.”

  “Oh okay, let’s go then. Hold on one second I need to grab Hazel’s present.”

  Draco turns to pick up the bag from his bed and he feels Harry’s eyes on him. _Why the hell am I acting so strange? Oh God I think I’m gonna throw up._ Draco thinks as he feels a hurricane of butterflies in his stomach. He turns back to face Harry and the butterflies intensify if that’s even possible. He holds up the bag and Harry smiles at him and turns to lead the way out.

  Draco stands there for a moment watching Harry stride out, one hand swinging his present for Hazel and the other shoved in his pocket. Draco grasps the bag between his hands and feels the hurricane of nerves turn into a soft flutter and happiness fills his chest. Harry turns around and asks if he’s coming.

  Draco nods and follows Harry out thinking _Goddamnit. I have a crush on Harry Potter._

 

***

   They’re at the restaurant waiting for their table to be ready. Harry is sitting next to Draco on a small bench and Draco is slumped against the wall looking absolutely relieved that they got a table. They’ve been sitting mostly in silence. Draco hasn’t talked much except to stress out about the night. Finally a waiter comes over to show them the way to their table. They get up to follow the waiter and Draco is walking in front of Harry when all of a sudden a man comes barging past and shoves Draco to the side. Automatically Harry steps to the side, putting his hand on the small of Draco’s back to steady him. He does it without thinking but something about it feels so intimate and a warm feeling runs through him as he feels Draco’s warmth through the shirt. Harry leaves his hand there until they get to the table and Draco remains silent. The only sign that Draco noticed is the faint blush of pink on his cheeks. Harry feels exhilarated like he just went on a rollercoaster or went bungee jumping. He’s nervous and excited and he wants to walk further just so he can guide Draco but they have to sit down.

   Harry’s been noticing that feeling a lot. The flutters and the adrenaline whenever he gets near Draco. Like he’s standing at the edge of a cliff, deciding whether to jump. He knows what it means. He knows he has feelings for Draco. But, he’s sure Draco would never feel the same. And what if he did and they didn’t work out? Harry doesn’t want to ruin the friendship they have. It’s hard to think sometimes though, like when he saw what Draco was wearing. Harry always thought he was attractive but he looked so good that Harry had been at a loss for words. The all black looked so formal and harsh and Draco looked like a bloody model. It was even worse when Draco smiled or laughed. Harry felt every part of himself melt a bit and burn simultaneously when that happened.

  They sit down and Harry shakes his head trying to focus. They’re here for Hazel not so Harry can admire everything about Draco. 

  They’re sitting at a table with 5 seats. Harry is sitting next to Draco and Draco is looking around for a waiter.

 “Where are all the workers here?”

  “Probably working.”

   Draco glares at Harry. “I’m being serious, everyone is going to be here soon and we don’t have waters yet, and we need to order our food because if we don’t we’re gonna be waiting forever.” Harry leans back in his chair and sighs, “Draco everything will be fine. You can relax.”

  Draco grunts and folds his arms continuing to glance around for a waiter. Harry watches him with a soft smile but he doesn’t say anything else.

 

***

  They’re mid-way through dinner. Xander showed up in black jeans and a white t shirt and Draco had asked what the hell he thought he was wearing.

  “These are my dress up clothes D.”

  “Xander what happened to that nice pair of pants and that blue shirt you had?”

  “I lost them.” Xander had shrugged and plopped down into his seat.

  Draco had clasped his hands in his lap and leaned back saying, “well at least you’re not wearing a hoodie.”

  “That’s the spirit,” Xander had cheered patting him on the arm. Hazel had shown up with Ben a few minutes later. She looked absolutely gorgeous in a red, lace dress and black heels. Xander had whistled when she walked in and Draco had begun clapping. Hazel had blushed and tried to hide behind Ben who was dressed up in a suit with a red tie to match. He had spun her around by her waist and guided her over to where Draco and Xander had leapt up to say their hellos. Harry had stood up and introduced himself to Ben and said hello to Hazel.

  Now they’re sitting around the table and they’re a few glasses into three bottles of wine and they’re all a bit tipsy. They’re finished eating and Draco is laughing at something Hazel said when Xander stands up from his seat yelling for a waiter. Draco tells him to hush and gets up but Xander puts an arm around him and holds him there, “Draco we need to sing the birthday girl a song, where’s the cake???”

   Hazel groans from her seat and leans into Ben, “Please for the love of God do _Not_ sing to me.”

  Xander grins, “Oh Hazel, you’re so cute. Of course we’re singing.”

   Hazel looks at Draco pleadingly but he just shrugs. Finally a Waiter comes over and they order a cake, and when the cake comes Draco and Xander make a big show of standing behind Hazel, as they sing Happy Birthday. Hazel is hiding and Harry and Ben are both laughing as they sing along. Ben is rubbing Hazel’s back and when they’re finally done Hazel lifts her head and asks, “Thank _God_ , it’s over.”

  “The nights not over yet my love, we still have the bar to go too,” Draco replies sitting back down. Hazel perks up at that and gives him a look. Xander and Ben look between the two of them and start clapping and Harry looks over at Draco confused, “I don’t understand? What’s happening?”

  Xander grins, “Oh you’ll see Harry. We are in for a treat tonight. Drunk Hazel and Draco is the best show you’re ever gonna watch.”

  Ben nods in agreement and Draco pats Harry’s hand.

  “Don’t worry about it, it’s not gonna happen.”

  “That’s what you always say,” Xander replies sipping from his cup.

  “He has a point,” Hazel says and Draco glares at her. She blushes and raises her hands, “Hey I’m just saying we have a tendency to get carried away.”

  Well, Draco can’t argue with her there.

 

***

  They’re in a bar and Harry is having a good time. He felt kind of awkward at the beginning of the night and he’s already nervous about seeing Hazel after today since she didn’t open any presents. She threw them in her car and said she’d open them later but she hugged everyone and said thank you. _Well I hope she likes the tampons_ he thinks as he takes another sip of beer. They’re sitting in a booth talking.

  It’s a half circle and Hazel is in the middle with Draco on her left and Ben on her right. Xander is sitting next to Draco so Harry is next to Ben. Ben is nice, he absolutely adores Hazel, and him and Harry are making small-talk. Xander and Draco are bent over laughing on the other side of the table and Harry can’t help but glance over every few seconds. Especially when Xander rests his arm on the back of Draco’s seat. He feels like everything is going in slow motion when he sees that and he feels a pit of jealously form in his stomach. He chugs some more beer and turns away to talk to Ben.

  “So how did you meet Hazel?”

  Ben smiles, “We actually met in this bar. She spilled a drink on me and next thing you know we were in a booth talking until the bartender kicked us out.”

  Harry smiles, “That’s amazing. I’m very happy for you two.”

  “Thanks.”

  Harry is distracted by Xander standing and shaking the whole table. He’s cheering and screaming, “Fuck yeah! Someone get out their cellphones because I need this on tape baby!”

  Ben cheers from beside Harry and all of a sudden everyone is standing. Harry gets up, confused and looks to see Draco stumbling out of the booth laughing. His eyes are bright and his cheeks are flushed as he takes a sip of beer as Hazel grabs his arm and starts dragging him, “Draco, Draco, Draco, Ohmygod.”

  She stops in a fit of giggles and Draco wraps an arm around her waist, “My darling you are the biggest lightweight I’ve met in my life ever.”

  Xander laughs and yells, “Draco, you’re the biggest lightweight out of all of us!”

  Draco flips him off and stumbles and Hazel grabs him still laughing. Leaning over to Ben, Harry asks, “Um, what exactly is going on?”

  “Oh you are in for a treat Harry, Draco and Hazel become absolute idiots when they’re drunk.”

  “Okay... so why are we standing?”

   Ben points and Harry follows his finger to see Hazel and Draco walking to a small stage, “that’s why.”

  He turns to Harry grinning, “they always start doing Karaoke.”

  Harry watches curiously as Draco helps Hazel walk up the steps of the stage. She trips on the second one, sending her into a fit of giggles again and Harry walks forwards with Ben to get a better view. Xander is at the front with his phone out and soon Draco and Hazel are on the stage. Draco’s sleeves are rolled up and his tie has been loosened as he grabs a microphone.

  “Um, Ben?” Harry asks.

  “Yeah?”

  “There’s no karaoke happening, that’s just a stage with a microphone... I think it’s for bands.”

  Ben laughs, “that’s the best part. They never actually do real karaoke. They find somewhere to stand and sometimes a mic if they’re lucky and they just start singing. Well, Draco sings.”

   Harry turns back just in time to hear Draco begin singing, “You can never do wrong, it’s me that makes the evenings long... and I hope you believe me when I say,”

  Harry looks at Ben in shock.

  Ben looks back at him, “I know right? Draco can sing. He refuses to sing in front of people though, unless he’s drunk and then this happens,” Ben gestures to the stage.

  Harry stares back at Draco who’s holding the mic and flipping Xander off, “But I wanna show them. How much I need her, I’m in this place again. Yeah I wanna show them... that this ain’t a fantasy, she’s my best fucking friend,” Draco walks back and wraps an arm around Hazel’s waist. “And I wanna show, I wanna show her the world,” Draco twirls and dips Hazel with one hand as Hazel laughs and holds onto him.

  Harry looks around at the crowd that’s cheering and Xander who’s laughing. The song ends and Draco and Hazel stay on stage, Draco is twirling Hazel around and she almost falls over. They come back over and Draco puts an arm around Harry, with a new beer in hand. Xander comes up and slaps Draco on the back and Draco turns as Xander grabs the drink from Draco saying, “You have had enough to drink.”

  Xander throws Draco over his shoulder and Draco yells for Hazel to help him. Hazel rushes over, almost tripping in her heels as she reaches Draco. She grabs his face, “what’s wrong hon? Are you okay?”

  She moves to the front of Xander and starts trying to pull Draco down but Xander’s too tall and she rushes back to tell Draco, “I can’t get you down, Xander has you in like a death hold.”

  Draco groans dramatically and Hazel starts hitting Xander on the shoulder, “Xander let Draco down, your killing him! You know he’s small, you’re squeezing the life out of him!”

  Draco yells from where he’s hanging, “Hey! I’m not small!”

   Xander laughs and Ben puts his drink down to come and wrap an arm around Hazel.

  “Come on sweetie, we should head out now.”

   Hazel protests immediately, “Bennnn I want to stay.”

   She frowns at him and Harry watches with his eyebrows raised as he visibly sees the thought process of Ben giving into Hazel on his face. Xander sees it too and says, “Well me and Draco are leaving.”

  Draco starts trying to kick him as Xander walks away and Hazel shrieks and runs after them calling out to Draco, “Don’t worry Draco, I’m coming!”

  Ben and Harry follow them outside. Once they’re on the street Xander places Draco down and Hazel runs to him.

  “Those two are absolutely unbearable when they’re drunk.” Xander says shaking his head as they watch Draco and Hazel lay on concrete. Ben, Harry and Xander stare down at them until Xander says “okay I better go home. You guys make sure these two don’t die.”

  He waves goodbye as he starts walking away, stopping to lean over Draco and Hazel to say goodbye. Hazel grabs his leg, saying he can’t leave and he carefully removes her hand and pats her head. As he walks down the street he turns to Ben and mouths, “Good luck!”

  Ben chuckles and goes to lift Hazel from the ground. Draco sits up also and Hazel turns to pull him up. Draco stumbles up and Ben turns to look at Harry.

  “You two get home okay, alright?”

  Hazel leaps into Draco’s arms to hug him and then Ben claps Harry on the back and whispers, “I can tell you care about Draco. Keep him safe for us please.”

  Harry doesn’t have time to respond because Hazel finishes saying goodbye and turns to hug Harry. After that they part ways and Harry watches as Ben leads Hazel down the street.

  Then he turns to look at Draco who’s staring at him, smiling. “What?” Harry asks.

  “I have an idea.”

 

***

  Draco feels amazing. His whole body feels warm and he feels like he’s floating. He also feels kind of dizzy whenever he looks around. Harry and him are sitting on a dock at the pier. Draco is leaning on Harry’s shoulder andsinging softly, “I want to go back to San Francisco, to the summer night. You know you know you know you know we got it right. Yeah. I wanna something da da da da hm hm hm hm hmmm.”

  Harry is chuckling next to him and Draco grins and lifts his head, “why are you laughing? Don’t you like my singing?”

  Harry smiles, “You’re singing is great but you’re lyrics are interesting.”

  “I forgot the words.” Draco shrugs and leans back staring at the skyline.

  “What time is it?”

  “How am I supposed to know?”

   Draco lays down groaning. Harry looks back at him amused.

   “Will you be mad if I fall asleep?”

  Harry shakes his head no.

  “Okay.”

  Draco stares up at the sky, “wake me up when the sunrise starts though.”

  Draco doesn’t know how much time passes but soon he wakes up to Harry shaking him. “It’s starting” Harry says. Draco blinks and sits up staring at the water. It shimmers as it moves back and forth.

  “Thanks for coming out tonight with us,” Draco yawns, “I know I didn’t get to spend much time with you.”

  Draco frowns at the water, he knows Harry was there the whole night but he feels like they barely talked. He turns to Harry as Harry says, “thanks for inviting me. I had fun.”

  They look back at the water and the sky and Draco wants to curl up and fall asleep. He’s exhausted and his head is pounding. He slumps against Harry feeling a soft warmth spread through his body. He smiles to himself as they sit there silently. Harry shifts and wraps an arm around Draco’s waist.

  Draco stiffens for a moment. He’s not sure what’s going on. He’s not sure how they got here. He feels nervous flutters as he leans into Harry and he feels Harry rest his head on top of his. _I think I’m cuddling with Harry Potter_ , Draco thinks. He wants to fold into himself. His nerves are making him jumpy and he wants to push Harry off and run.

  At the same time he feels safe and warm and he wants to stay like this forever. Just him, Harry, the shimmery blue water and the dark blue sky that’s slowly starting to brighten and turn into orange and yellow hues as the sun fills the sky. 

 


	11. but then I saw you under a streetlamp

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> helloo so basically this chapter is centered around that strange awkward phase when you’re not sure if you’re supposed to text the person you like or wait for them after something significant happens to make the dynamic shift. Not sure if this is just me lol but basically this chapter is full of super self conscious Harry and Draco, and basically they’re just confused and stubborn

  Harry runs his hand through his hair. He checks his phone for any texts. Nothing. After the night at the pier, Draco and him had parted ways. Harry hasn’t heard from him since. It’s been four days.

_I don’t know why I’m so stressed out, he’s probably just tired or working._

  Harry fidgets with his cover and stares at the ceiling, _or maybe I pushed things too far._  

  He groans and rolls over, pulling the covers over his head. There’s a knock at his door and he ignores it. Suddenly the door opens and Ron walks in grinning and tossing his wand in the air.

  “Put that away you idiot, someone could see you,” Harry grumbles.

  “There was no one in the hallway,” Ron shrugs, tucking his wand back into his pocket.

   Harry just looks at him. He’s not in the mood to talk to anyone or see anyone or go anywhere. His heart feels heavy and he just wants to curl up in a ball under his blankets until night comes, and then morning and all over again until the end of time.

  “It’s 2 pm Harry, I thought you’d like to come out with me to see Hermione.”

  Harry stares at the wall. “No thanks.”

  “Okay...” Ron says, stepping out of the room, “I don’t know what’s going on with you but, promise me you’ll call me if you need anything?”

  “Okay.”

  As soon as Ron leaves Harry buries himself under his blankets again and curls up. He closes his eyes and remembers the way Draco had felt against him. He lays on his back, staring at the ceiling, replaying every moment since they saw each other. Seeing Draco in the café, showing up at the café for the first time, getting coffee, staying at Draco’s, Sugar, watching chopped, getting drunk on the floor, watching Hazel’s baby. He frowns as his heart aches again and he picks up his phone. Nothing. He lays there for a few more minutes and then he gets up and walks out.

_If I want to see Draco then I can bloody well just go see him._

  Harry feels adrenaline course through him and then worry hits. _What if he doesn’t want to see me?_

  Harry stops and looks back at his hotel door. His heart is practically dragging him to wherever the hell Draco is but his feet won’t move. He sighs in defeat and walks back into his room and lays back down. Staring at the ceiling he thinks, _he probably didn’t want to see me anyways._ Then he rolls over and stares at the wall. 

 

***

  Draco hears the bell chime and he glances up immediately. It’s not Harry. He frowns and looks back down at the counter where he’s reading a book. He fidgets nervously, tapping his foot against the counter. He can’t focus on the words on the page.

_Is Harry mad at me? He hasn’t come by in a few days... he hasn’t texted. Is he still alive?_

  For a second Draco considers going to Harry’s hotel, just to make sure he didn’t spontaneously combust or something but he shakes his head.

_No I’m being stupid. He’s probably just busy... or he hates me. No he doesn’t hate me. I don’t think... he put his arm around me he can’t hate me. Maybe that was a friendly arm thing?_

  Draco is lost in thought when he hears the bell chime again and his head shoots up. He sighs in frustration. Not Harry. Hazel looks over at him and raises an eyebrow. He turns away from her and walks back towards the office. He’s not in the mood to deal with customers. He sits on the couch and stares at his phone. He clicks on Harry’s contact and his thumb hovers over the “call” button. He sighs and goes to turn off his phone when the door swings open. He hits call on accident and quickly fumbles to end it. He turns off his phone and tosses it away from him and then turns to see who the hell barged in. It’s Liz.

  He forces a smile, “Hello Liz, how are you doing today?”

   “I’m doing okay, thanks! What do you want me to do?”

  She smiles brightly and Draco sighs and looks around blankly, “You can go help Hazel make drinks. There aren’t too many customers right now, so there’s not much else to do.”

  “okay.” She smiles and leaves as Draco slumps back against the couch.

  _Why hasn’t Harry texted me? Why hasn’t he visited? Did I do something wrong?_

  He starts to feel anxious. He stands up and starts pacing trying to think of that night.

_Was I too drunk? Did I say something I don’t remember? Should I have texted him the next day? I just assumed I would see him... maybe this is nothing._

  He stops and a picture on his desk catches his eye. It’s of him and Hazel. Most of the pictures on the desk are. This one is the first one they ever took together though. The door opens and Draco glances up at Hazel walking in.

  “Hey no one is coming in so I left Liz behind the counter... Draco are you alright?”

   He glances at her and then back at the picture. She follows his gaze and walks over smiling. She loops an arm through his and leans against him.

  “That’s the first picture we ever took together.” She whispers.

  “Yes. You know I have about 100 copies of this one photo?”

  She looks up at him and smiles, “so do I.”

   They stand there for a second staring at the picture. In it Hazel is on Draco’s lap. Her arms are wrapped around his Neck and her face turned away, buried in his shoulder, so you can’t tell she was crying. Draco has one arm around her waist and the other is in front of his face. He hadn’t wanted to be photographed. The picture is slightly blurry but Draco loves that about it.

  Someone they met when they first became friends was a kid named Todd, who carried a camera around everywhere. To be honest Draco and Hazel had both hated him. For this specific reason. He went around taking pictures of people, talking about how he would be a famous photographer. That’s how they had met him. Hazel had come to Draco sobbing and they had talked for hours. She was finally starting to calm down when Todd had walked by and said, “Aw young love!” while whipping out his camera. 

  Draco had yelled at him to leave and  he had held his hands up and walked away. A few days later, both Draco and Hazel received a printed copy of the photo.

  “I hated that kid,” Hazel murmurs, “but, he did get us this picture.”

  Draco nods.

  Hazel pulls away, “Seriously, are you okay?”

  “I’m okay.”

  Hazel wraps him in a hug, “I’m here. No matter when or where. I’m here.”

   Draco smiles and hugs her back, “I know. I love you.” 

 

***

  Harry wakes up to find his room dark. He reaches for his glasses and lays in bed as the room comes into focus. _How long was I asleep for?_

  He rolls over and grabs his phone to check the time. He squints as the bright screen turns on and blinks as his eyes adjust to the light. He feels his heart drop when he sees the notification on his phone: “Missed call from Draco.”

  _Draco called me?_ Harry stares at the phone wondering what to do. _Should I call him back?_ He looks at the time and drops his head. It’s past 9pm. Draco called him hours ago. _What if he thinks I’m ignoring him?_ Harry feels his heart clench up at the thought. He gets up and grabs a glass of water to clear his head. He paces back and forth as he tries to decide what to do.

  _Maybe I should just text him?_ He sighs and leans against the wall, _I’m acting crazy. I need to calm down._

  He decides to step outside to get some fresh air. The air in his room seems to be closing in and it’s starting to become hard to breathe _. Besides maybe the fresh air will help clearly my head_ , he thinks as he steps out and walks towards the elevator. He leaves his phone in his room. _I can deal with that later_.

  When he gets to the lobby Harry waves at the desk attendant as he heads for the door. He pushes it open and shivers as the cold air hits him. He steps out crossing his arms over his chest, looking around.

_Why didn’t I put on a jacket?_

  He runs his hands against his arms and is about to go back inside when he sees him. Under a street lamp a little ways away is Draco. He’s in a dark green flannel and black jeans. He’s looking in the opposite direction and the wind is blowing his air to the side. Harry just stands there staring at him.

_What is he doing here?_

  Suddenly Draco turns around with a frown. The light from the street lamp lights up his features as he turns, the light bouncing off his sharp cheekbones and making his eyes look clear blue. He stops when he sees Harry and Harry watches his face drop. His eyes go wide and he drops his hands from where they were crossed over his chest.

  For a second everything is still. Even the wind seems to pause for them as they stare at each other. Then the wind picks up again blowing Draco’s hair up and to the side and his flannel flaps in the wind, bringing Harry back to reality. He takes a tentative step forward and Draco just watches him as ducks his head against the wind to walk over. He’s holding his arms around himself to try and stay warm as he feels the wind pick up as he steps out from the shelter of the hotel.

  He walks towards Draco and stops a few feet away. He shivers against the wind and tries to think of something to say. Suddenly he hears Draco’s voice:

  “You know you should always carry a jacket with you. Just in case.”

 

***

  Draco blinks blankly as Harry looks up at him in surprise.

  “Well... I wasn’t really planning on coming out here.”

   Draco looks at his grey sweats and white t shirt.

  “Yeah... you look like you just woke up.”

  “I kinda did actually... just wake up I mean.”

   Draco looks around at the pitch black sky, “Potter are you telling me you were sleeping all day?”

   “...yeah...”

   “Oh. Are you sick?”

  “No-“

  “-you shouldn’t be outside in the cold if you’re sick.” Draco takes a step forward to usher Harry back inside to where he won’t freeze to death.

  Harry sighs, “I’m not sick Draco calm down.”

   “Oh... okay... so what are you doing out here then?”

  Harry shrugs, “I wanted some fresh air. Didn’t realize it would be this cold. I was actually just gonna head back in...”

  _Oh. He wants to leave._

  Draco nods quickly, “yeah of course, you should go.”

_I don’t know why I came here_. Draco clenches his jaw. He had just been a bit worried and he was spiraling, wondering what was going on so he had kind of just impulsively apparated here. Clearly it was a mistake.

  “What? I’m not going back in.”

  “Excuse me?” Draco blinks in surprise.

  “I’m not going back in. Well not now anyways, I saw you standing over here and that pretty much deterred any thought of going inside.”

  Draco just watches with wide eyes as Harry starts to ramble, “I mean I was planning on going in but, I saw you and I don’t know what you’re doing here but obviously I wasn’t going to go back in. Even though it is freezing and I’m very confused on why you’re standing outside my hotel, I very well couldn’t just pretend I didn’t see you and it doesn’t matter anyway I’m sure my feet would have lead me here anyways and...”

   “Harry.”

  “So yeah now I’m standing out here in the cold and in my pajamas all because I saw you standing under a street lamp-“

   “HARRY.”

  Harry jumps a little when Draco raises his voice. Then he blushes and Draco just stands there confused trying to understand what Harry just said.

_So he wanted to talk to me? Or he wanted to leave? Did he feel obligated to talk to me?_

  Draco shakes his head confused, “I didn’t understand anything you just said to me. Except the part about seeing me and something about going inside?”

  “Yeah sorry, I kinda lost track of where I was going with that too.” Harry rubs the back of his neck and then looks up at Draco.

   The light from the street lamp reflects in his eyes and for a second Draco forgets what’s going on. He looks away and pulls on the sleeves of his flannel, “So... I haven’t seen you for a few days.”

  Harry nods, “Four days.”

  Draco looks at him sideways, “um, yeah. Four days exactly.”

  _Was he ignoring me on purpose? Why is Potter so abnormal._

   Draco sighs and bounces up and down, he’s not sure what to say now. _Why didn’t we talk for two days? Where did you go? What happened?_

  “So what have you been up to?”

  Draco glances back at Harry, “oh... nothing really. Just work... what about you?”

  “I spent some time with Ron and Hermione. Ginny wanted to go on some tour of Alcatraz but I didn’t feel like it.”

  Draco shrugs, “You should go. It’s actually pretty interesting.”

   Silence begins to stretch out between them in the dark, empty night and Draco feels his heart sink. _What changed?_

  “I think I should go,” he says, forcing a smile. “We’re both pretty busy and I don’t want to keep you from your friends.”

  Harry leaps forward and grabs his arm shouting a panicked, “No!”

  Draco looks down in surprise at Harry’s panicked expression and nearly falls over from the force of Harry grabbing him. Harry quickly glances at the ground and Draco swallows nervously as he waits for Harry to say something.

 

***

  Harry lets go of Draco’s arm and whispers a soft “Sorry.”

   He’s too embarrassed to look up at Draco. He doesn’t know what came over him... but the thought of Draco leaving after not being around him for so long... it was like every cell in his body had protested.

   “So... I guess I won’t go then.”

  Harry glances up in surprise as Draco looks down at him with one eyebrow raised.

   “I mean... you can... I didn’t mean to... if you want to leave... I’m not gonna stop you-“

   Draco rolls his eyes and starts walking towards the hotel entrance.

   “Where are you going?” Harry yells.

   Draco spins around with a grin and says, “What? I’ve let your lazy ass stay at my house so many times, it’s only fair that I stay at your shitty hotel.”

   Harry watches as Draco continues walking towards the entrance and when Draco turns around at the door to look at him, he walks forward with a shiver. They don’t speak until Harry closes his door behind them. Draco is looking around his room and then plops down on the bed and lays down.

  “Draco, what are you doing?” Harry walks to the edge of the bed to look at him.

  “Hm? Well Potter, some of us didn’t spend the whole day sleeping.”

  “Yeah... oh! Um by the way sorry for missing your phone call.” Harry glances at Draco to see that his eyes are closed.

   Slowly Draco opens his eyes and says, “Oh. Um, yeah that was sort of an accident... sorry about that.”

  “Oh.” _An accident_. Harry feels his heart sink a little. _So he didn’t want to talk._ He stares at Draco laying on the bed, his eyes closed again, and then he sighs and walks to the couch. He sits down and stares at the floor.

  _Of course it was on accident. Why would he call me after not talking to me for four days? I obviously went to far when I put my arm around him. He’s probably trying to figure out how to let me down gently or just ignore me until I realize he doesn’t want me around._

  Harry’s chest hurts and he feels tears in his eyes as he tries to accept the shitty, heavy feeling in his heart. Draco doesn’t like him back. He blinks a few times to clear the tears.

  _Of course he doesn’t. Why would he? It’s not like the universe is in my favor too often._

   He frowns and then looks up at the sound of Draco’s voice, “why are you making that face?”

  “What face?” Harry snaps. He looks to see that Draco is now sitting up and leaning forward.

   “You’re ‘I’m angry because something didn’t go my way’ face. I used to hate you Potter, that look used to be my favorite thing to see.”

   Harry doesn’t answer, he just stares at the floor.

  “Okay seriously what’s going on?”

  “Nothing.”

   “That’s bullshit.”

   “You’re bullshit.”

   “Excuse me?”

   Harry flinches at the edge in Draco’s voice and he immediately regrets what he said. He didn’t mean it. He didn’t.

   “What the fucking hell is that supposed to mean?”

  Harry sinks back into the couch as Draco glares at him. “I didn’t mean that Draco. I’m sorry.”

  “Then what did you mean?”

  _Uh oh. He’s not gonna let this go_.

   “I just-“

  “You know what, never mind. I shouldn’t have come here.”

  Draco gets up to leave and Harry jumps up to his feet, “Maybe you should leave. In fact, why the fuck did you show up here in the first place? You’ve ignored me for four days. Why show up now? Just so you can leave again?”

  Draco freezes and Harry feels his chest rise and fall as he breathes heavily, anger and hurt all mixed together as one.

 

***

  Draco feels his heart stop. Harry thinks he was ignoring him? He turns around slowly, and stares at Harry. His hair is a mess and he’s breathing hard. His eyes are a wild, intense green and even though he’s standing there defiantly with his head up high, Draco can see in his eyes he’s scared.

   “I wasn’t ignoring you.” He says slowly and then looking at the ground says, “to be honest... I thought you were ignoring me.”

   “What?”

   Draco shrugs, “I hadn’t seen you, you didn’t stop by... I figured... I don’t know. I guess I figured if you wanted to see me you would.”

  He looks up and now Harry is blushing, “I thought you didn’t want to see me.”

  “Why would you think that?”

   “I don’t know... I didn’t want to bother you at work and then I got busy, and then the next thing I knew we hadn’t spoken in days and I thought you didn’t want to see me. So I didn’t go to see you.”

  “Oh.” Draco sighs and walks back to the bed. He really is exhausted. “So I guess we’re both just shit at communicating.”

   Harry laughs a little, “yeah I guess so... Draco?”

   Draco looks over at him, “yeah?”

  “Why are you here? Like, why did you come here, to my hotel?”

  “I wanted to see you.” Draco shrugs and lays back down on the bed. Then because he knows Harry can’t see him blush he adds, “I missed you.”

   The room falls silent for a few moments and Draco stares at the ceiling, refusing to look at Harry’s reaction. A few moments later he feels the bed dip beside him, “I missed you too.”

  He looks over in surprise to find Harry laying next to him.

   “You can sleep here tonight, if you want.”

   Draco laughs, “Thanks but I was planning on sleeping here anyways.”

  He sits up and looks down at Harry, laughing as he rolls his eyes.

   “Of course you were.”

   Suddenly, Harry sits up too, “Oh, do you want to borrow some clothes?”

   “Sure.”

   A few minutes later Draco is snuggled under the covers of Harry’s bed. Harry is sitting on the edge watching TV.

   “Harry?”

   “Yes?”

   “You can lay down. It is your bed.”

   Harry looks down at him, “Oh... are you sure?”

   “Harry we cuddled on a fucking pier for gods sake of course it’s fine. If it wasn’t I would have shoved you into the water.”

   Harry blushes and Draco laughs. He knows he’s probably going to regret saying so much in the morning but he’s exhausted, and a little bit delirious. Whether from finally being with Harry again or just pure exhaustion, he’s not sure. He smiles as Harry lies down next to him.

  “Are you sure-?”

  “Yes Harry I’m sure. Just don’t leave me for four days after this, ok?”

  Harry nods, “I won’t.”

  Draco rolls over so he’s pressed against Harry’s side.

  _I’m gonna hate myself for this tomorrow_ he thinks. Then he thinks _, Whatever, I’ll just blame it on the exhaustion._

  Harry is warm and soft and smells good, and Draco closes his eyes and slowly drifts off to the sound of Harry’s breath and shitty reality TV. 

 

 

 

 

 

 


	12. maybe. maybe not.

   Draco ducks as Hazel throws a binkie at his head.

   “Friends my ass,” she says crossing her arms.

   Draco, who is holding Kyla, covers her ears with his hands and tsks, “Hazel! Watch your language. Your poor child is in the room. Keep that up and I’ll call social services.”

  Hazel rolls her eyes and walks to sit down next to him. She leans against the back of the couch, with her legs curled underneath her and stares at Draco. He ignores her staring at him, instead he jangles Hazel’s car keys in front of Kyla, smiling warmly when she giggles and squeals happily.

  “Draco.”

   “What?”

   “Be honest with me. Come on I’m your best friend.”

   Draco glances at her out of the corner of his eye.

_It would be nice to talk to someone... but I don’t even know what we are._

  “Draco.”

   Draco puts the keys down and leans back, letting Kyla grab on to his finger. Without looking at her, he whispers, “To be quite honest Hazel, _I’m_ not even sure what we are.”

  Hazel places a hand on his arm, silently encouraging him to continue.

   “We hadnt seems each other year’s... so when we saw each other again it was more confusing than anything else. Somehow it turned into this,” Draco gestures with his free hand aimlessly and then looks at Hazel.

   She’s watching him gently and quietly she asks, “Do you like him?”

  Draco blushes as he answers,

   “Yes.”

  Hazel grins widely and squeals, “Oh I knew it, I knew it, I knew it.”

   Draco rolls his eyes, “It doesn’t matter. I don’t even know if he likes me and even if he does he’s leaving eventually.”

   Hazel huffs and taps Draco’s cheek, “Honey, the moment I saw you guys together I could tell there was something there. It’s like you two emit a beacon that just flashes, ‘we love each other.”

   Draco glares at her, “Seriously?”

   She holds a hand up, “Okay that was a little dramatic but I’m being honest. The way you guys act around each other, the way you talk, the way you look at each other. There’s no way he doesn’t feel the same way.”

   They’re distracted for a moment as Kyla suddenly bursts into tears and Hazel reaches over to pick her up. Hazel begins walking around the room, swaying back and forth and whispering soft words to Kyla. After Kyla’s calmed down and laid tiredly against Hazel’s shoulder, Draco leans forward and says, “Well it doesn’t matter.”

   “What doesn’t?” Hazel blinks at him confused, still swaying.

   “If he likes me back. He’s leaving.”

   “Draco stop being so... realistic.”

   “Excuse me? Why should I not be realistic?”

   “Because,” Hazel says walking forward, “reality sucks. God, Draco life is full of possibilities, if you just let go and look for them.”

   “Let go of what?”

   “Control.”

   “I like control.”

   “I know you do, but Harry is here now. You like him and there’s a very big chance he feels the same. Why not take a risk? So what if ‘realistically it’s not amazing circumstances? You’re both here now. Screw reality.”

   “You’re insane Hazel, I can’t just let go. He’s leaving. That’s a factor that’s not going to change. Even if I did take a chance, that reality would always be there.”

   “So face it when it’s here. Don’t worry about what you do now because of something that’s two months away. Take action now and face reality when it comes face to face with you.”

  “Well that’s stupid. I’ll just get hurt.”

   Hazel stares at him, “Draco, do you know how much can change in a second? Yes, Harry leaving might be a fixed thing right now but who’s to say that that won’t change?”

   “What, you think he’ll stay here for me?” Draco chuckles, “He would never do that. His whole life is in England.”

   “All I’m saying, is don’t be afraid to go after something because of one negative factor.”

  Draco groans, “I’m very confused.”

   Hazel sits down next to him with a now sleeping Kyla, “You’ll figure it out. You always do.”

   She kisses him on the cheek and giggles as he tries to wipe off the lipstick. When Draco goes home that day he thinks about what Hazel said. Maybe he should take a chance. Maybe things could work out.

 

***

  Harry sits down next to Draco on the floor. He places the box of pizza down in front of him and grins as he happily opens the box. Draco has come over a total of three times now.

  Due to Ron, Hermione and Ginny always being around; Draco just doesn’t  come by that often. They still spend most of their days together, unless Harry feels guilty about not hanging around with his friends, in which case he spends the day with them and texts Draco to let him know.

   Ron and Hermione are starting to ask more and more questions.

_Who are you always with? Why won’t you tell us? Are you seeing someone?_

   Ginny keeps making comments about “Harry’s new lover.” For example, the other day as he walked out the door she said, “I wonder if Harry’s new lover knows that he’s staying with his ex-girlfriend.”

   Harry had promptly left after that. He can tell Ginny is having a hard time. What is he supposed to do though? They broke up years ago, and Draco and him aren’t even dating. Harry knows he’ll have to speak with her eventually but right now he really just does not want to. He will though. He will. He refocuses on the wonderful pizza in front of him and pushes his friend problems away. He can deal with those later.

   Draco is sitting cross legged across from Harry, already eating a slice.

  “So what do you want to do?” Harry asks, carefully picking up a slice of his own.

   Draco shrugs and continues to eat silently. He’s in a mood today; Harry can tell. He’s been quiet ever since he arrived and his eyes look dull and tired. Harry didn’t  know if he should ask so he hadn’t but, he wants to know what’s wrong so finally he blurts out the question, “What’s wrong?”

   “Nothing, I’m fine.”

   “No you’re not. Don’t lie to me.”

   Draco puts on smile, “See? I’m fine.”

   Harry sighs and stares at the pizza in his hand. He doesn’t want to push it.

   “Okay, well I’m bored. Can we go somewhere?”

   Draco frowns, “Where would we even go?”

   Oh yeah. Harry had forgotten about that.

   “See?” Draco says, pointing his pizza slice at Harry, “you don’t have any ideas either. I guess we’ll just have to stay here until your friends start returning.” Draco smiles smugly at Harry and lays down on the floor.

   “What are you doing?”

   “Getting comfortable.”

   Harry rolls his eyes, “Well too bad. I had an idea.”

   “Bullshit.”

   Harry stands up and tilts his head to look at Draco, “Nope! And, thank you by the way.”

   Draco narrows his eyes, “Why are you thanking me?”

   Harry grins, “You’re the one who gave me the idea.”

  He winks and Draco groans, “No. I’m perfectly happy here on the floor.”

   “No you’re not.”

   Harry picks up the pizza box and starts walking towards the door. He hears Draco sigh dramatically from the ground, “Fine. We can go. At least help me up though.”

   Harry puts the pizza down and walks back to where Draco is laying. He grabs his hands and lifts him to his feet. They stumble for a second as Draco tries to find his balance and Harry looks up at him happily. They’re standing face to face and, not for the first time, Harry starts to feel dizzy as he thinks of what might happen if he were to tilt his head back and if Draco leaned down.

   He doesn’t want their first kiss to be like this though. Draco moody and Harry physically having to drag him places. He wants their first kiss to be special.

  _I sound like a 12 year old girl,_ he thinks to himself as he steps away from Draco. Draco blinks a few times and Harry turns away to pick up the pizza box again. He doesn’t see the way Draco’s face falls. He turns back, nodding for Draco to follow him and Draco stares at the box in his hands, “Why are you holding that?”

  “I’m not letting perfectly good pizza go to waste.”

  Draco sighs, “Whatever. So what’s this lovely plan of yours?”

 

***

   “I can’t believe this was your plan.” Draco looks around at the other people occupying the bus. They’re sitting in the back but the bus has slowly grown more and more packed. Draco glares at a man standing next to his seat. He’s standing way to close and keeps looking Draco up and down. Draco folds his arms and turns his attention back to Harry and his insane plan.

   “This is a great plan!” Harry says cheerfully, grinning at Draco.

   Draco sighs and feels his heart sink again. It’s been doing that all afternoon. After his talk with Hazel he had felt ready. Ready to try with Harry. Then he had overheard Xander talking to Hazel. He had been heading towards the back to grab some mugs when he heard them talking.

   “So, has Draco admitted that he likes Harry?”

  “Xander, Draco’s love life is none of our business.” Draco had smiled at that and silently thanked God for Hazel. He always knew he could tell her anything, and he never had to worry about her telling anyone else. Not that he was keeping his feelings a secret... he just wasn’t ready to tell anyone else.

   “Seriously? You’ve all but locked them in a room together at this point.”

  “So what? I think they would be cute together.”

   “Yeah... but you know it would never work out.”

   “Why do you say that?”

   “Come on Hazel, Harry is leaving. Isn’t he from another country?”

   “England?”

   “Yeah, there.”

Draco rolled his eyes.

   “What about him leaving?”

   “Come on, Hazel. Long distance never works. They have what, two months left?”

   “I think they have a chance.”

   “I don’t want Draco getting hurt is all. I mean what if it doesn’t work out? What if he wastes two months of his life trying to build something that’s only gonna fall apart?”

   “You’re so negative sometimes...”

   Draco had left then.

   Now he’s just confused. Harry leaves in two months and Xander is right. Two months isn’t that long. Draco can already imagine Harry packing his things and leaving. What kind of foundation is that to form a relationship on?

   Draco blinks, realizing Harry’s been talking to him.

   “Draco? Are you okay?”

   “You already asked me that.”

   “And you keep lying to me.”

   Draco looks down at his hands and he hears Harry sigh. They ride in silence, until Harry declares that they’re at their stop. Draco stands up and shuffles out of his seat and then stops because the man who was standing next to him won’t move out of his way.

  “Hello.” The man smiles at him.

   “You’re in my way.” Draco replies giving the man a tight-lipped smile.

   The man steps forward, he’s a little taller than Draco and looks much stronger.

   “Feisty, I like that. Can I get your number?”

   Draco rolls his eyes and elbows the man out of his way. Harry and him walk off the bus but, when they turn around the man is standing there behind them. 

 

***

   Harry stares at the man standing before them. He keeps looking at Draco greedily and Harry wants to hex him off the face of the planet.

   “Baby, where are you going?” The man takes a step towards Draco.

   Harry looks at Draco who is tapping his foot (Harry noticed he does that when he’s annoyed), with his arms crossed. Draco’s face is like a blank canvas, the only sign of his irritation is the rhythmic tapping of his shoe against pavement.

   “Was shoving you not clear enough? Get the fuck away from me.”

   The man is not thrown off by Draco’s voice, instead he steps closer, reaching an arm out to touch Draco’s shoulder. Harry stares at the man’s hand as he feels his face grow warm with anger. He steps forward, shoving himself between the two of them.

   “He said to leave him alone.” Harry shoves the man back, so he’s not in touching distance of Draco anymore.

   The man stares at Harry and laughs, “Who the hell are you?”

   Harry reaches for his wand in his back pocket but, Draco grabs his arm and pins it behind him so he can’t reach it. From behind him Draco says casually, “You have exactly 1 minute to get out of my sight before I call the police.”

   Harry hears four beeps and then Draco’s phone begins to ring.

   “You’re seriously gonna call the cops on me? I didn’t even do anything.”

   There’s a click from Draco’s phone and then a woman’s voice comes through, “This is 911, what’s your emergency?”

   Harry looks at the man who immediately takes off down the street muttering something like “insane.”

   Draco lets Harry go and Harry turns around and watches as Draco speaks to 911.

   “Well, I called because a man was harassing me and followed me off a bus. Yes, he’s gone now. Yes, I’m alright. Okay thank you so much.”

  After a minutes Draco hangs up. Harry just stares at him.

   “Did you really just call the police?”

   “He was harassing us.” Draco shrugs and then clicks his tongue, “I should sue him.”

   Harry laughs, “I can’t believe you just did that.”

   “We have police for a reason Harry. Too many people end up in horrible situations because they think their problem isn’t big enough. Better safe than sorry.”

   “I guess... I was just going to hex him.”

   “Yes, I know. In the middle of the street. Your lack of awareness is truly amazing sometimes.”

  Harry kicks at a rock on the road, “I didn’t like the way he was looking at you.”

   “Aw, Harry don’t be jealous.”

   Harry glances over to see Draco smirking at him. Harry knows he’s joking, but Harry doesn’t feel like joking right now.

   “I like you Draco. How could I not be jealous?” He continues walking down the street but after a few moments Harry realizes Draco isn’t walking next to him anymore. He turns around confused to find Draco standing there with wide eyes.

   “What did you just say?”

 

***

   Draco’s brain is going a mile a minute. There’s no way Harry just said that. Draco wants to lay down. It’s too much. His thoughts are flying by so fast and all he can think is, _this isn’t possible_. But he also can’t stop the rapid beating of his heart and the one thought that keeps pushing its way through all his worries.

  _Harry likes me._

   He stares as Harry shrugs like it’s the most normal thing in the world, “Well... I guess I thought you knew already.”

   “Knew what?” Draco curses himself for asking but he can’t help it. He needs to hear it again.

   Harry blushes a deep red and his eyes stay fixated on the ground as he whispers, “I like you Draco.”

   Draco feels adrenaline rush through his veins and he feels dizzy with happiness until he remembers: This won’t work out. The euphoric feeling quickly vanishes leaving a hard, sharp pain in his chest. He blinks a few times and sighs.

_What the hell am I going to do?_

   “Draco?”

   Draco looks at Harry to find him a few feet away, “Draco I’m- I am so sorry. I wasn’t thinking. I totally understand, you don’t need to say anything.”

   Draco watches as Harry begins to ramble and he can’t help but smile as he watches Harry run his hand through his hair and stutter nervously.

   Goddamnit why do you make things so hard.

   “What?”

   “Huh?”

   Harry is staring at Draco now and he steps forward slowly, “You said I make things hard. What did you mean by that?”

  _Oh shit I said that out loud_.

   Draco lets his face fall, he refuses to let Harry see how scared he is.

   “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

   “Seriously Draco?”

   Draco shrugs and blinks blankly at Harry. Harry takes a step back and hurt flashes across his face as he turns away.

   “Whatever. Just forget I said anything.” Harry begins to walk away, and Draco’s heart crumbles as he stares at Harry’s back, blinking back tears.

_This is for the best,_ he tells himself. _This is for the best._

 

***

   They’re at a bus stop. They haven’t spoken since Harry turned away. Harry’s staring at a rock on the ground. He just wants to go home. The bus doesn’t come for another 29 minutes though. He looks over at Draco who is avoiding eye contact.

    _Great. Now he won’t even talk to me._

   Harry feels his eyes grow warm but he refuses to cry. No. He’ll do that when he’s alone.

   The bus stops and Harry and Draco stand up to exit. They’re at the end of the street from Harry’s hotel. Draco has been silent the whole ride. He just stared out the window. Harry kept feeling him staring at him but whenever he would glance over Draco would look away. Harry’s so confused at this point. He just wants to grab Draco and shake him and yell at him to stop being so goddamn hard to read. The whole way back all Harry could do was think of the little things.

   The way he would catch Draco looking at him. The way Draco would lean into him or stand a little too close. Harry was sure that Draco felt the same. How could he not? How could he do all those things and have it mean absolutely nothing?

   Harry just wants to be alone.

  “Bye, I guess.” He turns to walk down the street but Draco grabs his arm.

   “Harry wait.” Draco looks desperate and Harry is sure this is it. He’s gonna say it. Maybe he was just scared before.

   “Yes?” Harry asks, trying to keep his voice neutral.

   Draco let’s go of his arm, “Let me walk you back.”

   Harry feels his heart sink again but that’s quickly replaced with anger.

    _Stupid afraid Malfoy and his stupid beautiful face._

   Harry turns around without a word and starts walking away, “Don’t worry about it. I can take care of myself.”

   He hears Draco calling him but he just keeps walking, drowning it all out. He’s just about to reach the streetlamp outside the hotel when he feels Draco grab his arm and pull.

   “What the hell do you want?” Harry yells, whirling around. “Haven’t you hurt me enough for one day?”

   “Harry I didn’t mean to hurt you, you have to believe me. This is just for the best.”

   “Whatever, Draco. You don’t feel the same, you could have just said that. Now please go away.”

   He turns around, only to feel Draco grab his arm again.

   “What part of leave me alone don’t you understand?”

   Harry’s on the verge of tears and he doesn’t care anymore. It’s too much.

   “Just leave me alone please. I know you didn’t mean to hurt me. It’s not your fault you don’t feel the same.”

   He turns around again and feels his arm being pulled. He pulls it away angrily.

   “Harry I do like you.”

   Harry stops directly under the street lamp, he found Draco standing under a few days before. He turns around slowly. Draco looks frantic and the light reflects the tears in his eyes.

  “What did you just say?” 

***

   Draco takes a deep breath and blinks rapidly.

_How did this happen? How did I become the person chasing after someone else?_

  Harry’s face is like a flashing light; hurt and anger flash across it one after the other. There’s a single tear streak running down his face and it breaks Draco’s heart.

   “Don’t you see Harry? This is why it’s best.”

   “Draco what the hell are you talking about?”

   Draco gestures between them. He’s sure he looks a mess too after chasing Harry all the way down the street. He’s exhausted and hurt and confused.

   Harry groans, “Draco if you don’t say something that actually makes sense I’m leaving.”

   Draco feels his shoulders fall as he looks at Harry sadly, “We could never work out. Even though I feel the same. Look at us. We’re just a pair of fucking messes.”

   Harry closes his eyes, “I don’t understand. You feel the same? But we can’t be together? Why the hell not?”

   Draco feels like screaming. Instead he laughs sadly and whispers, “If it hurts this much to see you leave now, how much more will it hurt when you go back to England.”

   He looks right at Harry who just stares at him, dumbfounded.

   Harry takes a step forward, “Draco that’s two months away. What we’re feeling, this is now.”

  “But you’re leaving.”

   “So what?” Harry cries, “you want me just to bury my feelings and pretend? I like you. You like me. Why can’t that be the end of it?”

   He takes Draco’s hands and Draco pulls away, “Because there is an end Harry. Two months. We already have an expiration date.”

  “I don’t care.”

   Draco looks down at Harry who is looking up at him determinedly.

   “I think we can make it work,” Harry continues, stepping closer.

   Draco feels his mind go fuzzy with Harry so close. The need to be close to him takes over his brain and all the fight in him drains away. He’s left with nothing but exhaustion.

   “What if we can’t?”

   Harry steps forward and reaches up to pull Draco’s head towards him.

   “We can,” he whispers.

   And then he steps closer and he tilts his head up and Draco loses control. His hands fall to Harry’s side pulling him close and his eyes flutter shut as he leans downs and their lips touch. Draco feels like every cell in his body is tingling as he leans into the kiss. Harry’s lips are soft and his face is smooth. Harry pulls away and Draco leans down so his forehead rests on Harry’s. Harry blinks and rubs Draco’s cheek with his thumb.

   “We can make this work” he whispers.

   Draco blinks at him and nods. Harry grins and Draco can’t help it, he pushes Harry against the streetlamp and leans down again.

  Their noses bump and Draco grins as their lips collide. Harry pushes up and deepens the kiss as they hold on to each other. When they finally pull away, they’re surrounded by glowing light and they stand there for a few moments silently.

   “I have to go,” Harry whispers.

   Draco nods and takes a step back. Harry grabs his hand, “ I’ll see you tomorrow?”

  Draco nods and smiles, “Yeah. I’ll text you.”

  Harry smiles and lets go, turning and walking towards the hotel entrance. Draco leans against the pole watching him, until he disappears. Draco stares at the ground for a few moments after he’s gone. Draco feels dizzy and happy but there’s another feeling lingering in his gut.

  As he stares at the door he thinks,

_Fuck. there’s no going back. This is going to hurt like hell._

 

 

 

 

 

 


	13. this was a horrible idea.

   Harry looks over at Draco who is leaning into him with his arms crossed over his chest and his eyes closed. Harry shifts slightly so the arm that he has wrapped around Draco’s shoulders is more comfortable, and Draco’s head falls into the dip between Harry’s neck and shoulder. He can feel Draco’s soft breath against his neck and he smiles softly. It’s been a few days since they kissed. They were both so emotional that night, and after things had been a bit awkward. Harry hadn’t really known how to act and he was pretty sure Draco didn’t either.

  It felt like walking on eggshells. _Is it ok to hold his hand? Is he gonna kiss me? Does he want to kiss me? Should I kiss him?_

  Hazel had walked into the office one day to find them awkwardly sitting next to each other and she had groaned and said, “For God’s sake put your arm around him Draco, he’s not gonna bite.”

  She left and Harry had turned to a blushing Draco, “You told her?”

  Draco had shrugged, “I tell her everything...”

   Harry had sighed and leaned back, “Well put your arm around me then, you heard the woman.”

   Draco had looked at him in surprise but he listened and after that they had relaxed. They were still getting comfortable with each other but things had been good. They haven’t kissed again, Harry’s okay with that. He wouldn’t _mind_ if it happened again but Draco was so scared that night... Harry can tell he’s still wary of the whole situation; if he needs a little more time to feel comfortable that’s okay. Harry doesn’t mind taking things slow.

  He rearranges the blanket that’s covering them and lays his head on top of Draco’s. They had both been busy all day so Harry came over at 7pm and they had binge watched “it’s always sunny in Philadelphia” (Draco’s favorite show) and cuddled. Draco had been really tired and he fell asleep about 20 minutes ago. Harry’s starting to feel sleepy too. He closes his eyes and slowly drifts off.

 

  Harry wakes up to the sound of Draco’s voice.

  “I don’t know Xander, have you talked to Hazel? I agree, but if Hazel isn’t available the plan doesn’t really work. Okay you text her and see what she says. Yeah, you guys can come over to my place.”

   Harry turns around and finds Draco leaning against the kitchen counter on the phone. Harry watches as Draco taps his fingers against the counter, nodding silently to whatever Xander is saying on the other line.

  “Yeah, I’ll ask Harry. Okay. Bye Xander.”

   Harry stands up and Draco jumps and holds a hand over his heart.

   “Don’t do that,” he says, pointing a finger at Harry.

  “So what are you asking me?” Harry says laughing as he walks towards Draco.

  “Were you eavesdropping on my conversation Potter?”

  Harry stands a few feet away from Draco and tilts his head up, “Maybe.”

  He grins and Draco shakes his head as his lips turn up into a small smile.

  “So what were you gonna ask me?” Harry crosses his arms over his chest but he can’t stop the smile from spreading on his face.

  “Xander wants to hang out tonight. He wanted to know if you would like to join us...but, I’m not even sure if it will work out. We still have to talk to Hazel.”

  “Well, I’d love to hang out with you guys, and if they can’t come we can still hang out.” Harry says, nudging Draco with his elbow.  

   “I guess I’m stuck with you either way then,” Draco sighs dramatically and tilts his head back.

   When he looks back down at Harry he’s smiling and Harry feels adrenaline start to pump through his veins as he stares at Draco. Everything seems to move in slow motion as they lean towards each other. Harry’s hands are hovering shakily by Draco’s arms, not sure where to hold and Draco keeps his hands on the counter as their lips meet. Draco’s lips are soft and Harry leans closer to him. They break away, their lips still brushing, as Harry puts an arm around Draco’s head and pulls him down. They kiss again, slowly moving their mouths, trying to find a comfortable pace. When they break away Draco rests his forehead on Harry’s and they just stand there for a few seconds breathing. Harry’s lips are tingling and he feels dizzy and happy. He feels Draco reach up and hold onto his arm. Draco runs his thumb gently against Harry’s arm and they blink at each other for a few more moments before Draco whispers, “Come on, let’s have breakfast.”

  Harry nods and steps back, running his hand down Draco’s arm until their fingers interlock. Draco stares at their hands for a few seconds smiling softly before he steps away from the counter and pulls away.

  “Can I trust you to make toast?” He asks, walking to the fridge.

   “No. I always forget that you can’t pull the bread out with a fork.” Harry shrugs, “I am just completely helpless. I’m actually not allowed to be around machines. Hermione says it’s hazardous to my wellbeing.”

   “Shut up,” Draco says, throwing a loaf of bread at his head. “Make that.” He says, gesturing between the bread and the toaster.

  “So bossy,” Harry grumbles but he still smiles and does as he’s told. He lifts a hand to his lips for a second, biting down on his smile as he removes two loaves of bread and puts them in the toaster.

 

***

  Draco looks up and down the aisle with a frown. He hears something start ringing and he begins to reach for his phone until he hears the ringing stop and Harry’s voice, “Hello?”

   Draco glances at Harry who mouths “Hermione,” before turning back to the aisle.

   Hazel got back to him a little while ago and now the plan is 100% conformed. He’s in charge of getting the alcohol but he can’t find the vodka that they always get. It’s peach flavored and tastes like bleach but they always get it. From behind him he can hear Harry on the phone sounding slightly flustered, “I’m not coming back tonight.” “I’m with my friend.”

   Draco looks over at him with a raised eyebrow at that. Harry immediately blushes and flips him off. Draco laughs and turns back to the aisle. It has to be here.

  “I don’t know Hermione. Can we talk about this later? Love you too bye.”

  Finally Draco spots it, he walks over to grab the bottle and calls back to Harry,

  “So what did she want?”

   “She wants to know where I am, who I’m with...”

   “Hmmm.”

   “She wants to meet you.”

   Draco looks up at that, “Well that’s impossible. We’ve already met.”

   Harry comes up behind him and gives him a small nudge, “ _She_ doesn’t know that.”

  “Yes, I forgot about that bit.”

   “Draco...”

   “What?” Draco steps away and narrows his eyes as Harry refuses to make eye contact.

   “I think I have to tell them.. about us.”

   “Oh...”

   “You mean a lot to me and I don’t want to hide you from them...”

   Draco sighs, “They’re gonna hate it and how would you even ‘introduce us?’ Should I just stay at your hotel until they happen to walk in and find us together?” 

   “Maybe we can invite them tonight?”

   “Excuse me? Tonight is supposed to be _fun_. I don’t need three people who hate my guts showing up.”

  Harry steps forward, “Maybe just Hermione then? Please?”

  Draco stares at the bottle, he can tell how important this is to Harry... and Hermione is the least likely to try to kill him on sight...“Ok.”

   “Really?” Harry asks.

   “Yeah, I guess that’s fine. I have to call Hazel though.”

  Harry nods and steps forward placing a hand over Draco’s.

  “She’s gonna love you.” He whispers running a thumb over Draco’s hand.

  Draco smiles sadly but he doesn’t tell Harry what he’s thinking. _That’s impossible._

   “Let me call Hazel and let her know.”

   “Okay I’ll call Hermione,” Harry replies excitedly.

  Draco pulls out his phone and clicks on Hazels contact.

    _This is gonna be a long night._

***

   “Draco it’s gonna be fine.” Harry follows Draco who’s pacing around the apartment.

   “Okay Harry you don’t get to tell me what’s fine right now okay? You didn’t join the death eaters, you weren’t part of a mass killing of people, and one of the people who hates you most in the world isn’t coming over to _your_ house without knowing they are walking into a room with you.”

   “Draco, come on it’s going to be okay.”

   “Please stop saying that...”

   “Sorry-“ they both turn at the sound of Hazel stumbling through the door with a bag of movies and ice cream. She stops as soon as she sees Draco.

   “What’s wrong?” She asks putting the bag down slowly.

  “Draco’s overwhelmed...” Harry replies trying to reach out to Draco again.

   Draco turns away and Harry feels his heart sink. Maybe this wasn’t a good idea. He had thought it would be okay at the time... Hermione is the most likely of his friends to have a change of heart over Draco. But now... Harry thinks this was a bad idea.

   “I can call and cancel.” He whispers.

  Draco shakes his head, “No, no she’s already planned to come here and she’s probably already on her way since we told her to get here early.”

   “Harry?” Harry turns at the sound of his name. Hazel is walking towards them and once she reaches them she slips an arm around Draco.

   “Do you mind giving us a second?” She asks as Draco turns to lean into her.

   Harry nods quickly and walks to the couch, watching as Hazel places a hand on Draco’s cheek and whispers something to him. Harry feels his cheeks flush and his stomach twists. _He_ should be able to calm Draco down. He watches as Draco nods in agreement to whatever Hazel says and wraps his arms around her neck. She grins and hugs him back and Harry frowns. He wants to know Draco like that. Suddenly the doorbell rings and everyone’s head swivels to stare at the door. Draco’s eyes go wide and Hazel places a hand firmly on his chest and turns to Harry.

   “Harry can you get the door?”

   Harry nods and pulls at his tshirt as he walks over and unlocks the door. On the other side is Hermione. Her hair is pulled back into a ponytail and she’s wearing jeans and a white tank top with a pink cardigan over it. She smiles and tries to peak inside over Harry’s shoulder. He steps in front of her to block her view and she frowns and swats his arm.

  “Harry, stop being a prick. I want to meet your friend!”

  _Okay_ , Harry thinks, _how do I do this?_

  Before he can decide on whether or not to just let her in and let her find out on her own or give her some kind of warning, there’s a voice behind him.

  Draco.

   “Hello Hermione, I believe we’ve already met.”

   Harry turns, opening the door all the way to find Draco standing there casually. His hands are tucked into his blue hoodie and the frantic look is gone from his face. He looks completely calm as he stares at Hermione. Harry also notices Hazel standing a few feet away. Her arms are crossed and she’s standing protectively behind Draco.

   Harry’s a bit taken aback. Hazel looks quite intimating actually. She’s wearing a flowy maroon dress with black heels and her brown eyes are harsh and cold.

   Hermione stares at Draco and then looks at Harry.

   “Harry what-“

   “Hermione,” Harry interrupts, “Draco is the person I’ve been spending so much time with.”

   He gives her a look, begging the universe that she won’t ask any questions. She looks suspiciously between Draco and Harry one more time before forcing a smile and stepping in.

  “Hello Draco, it’s nice to see you.”

   Harry shuts the door behind her and she turns to glare at him.

  “You have a lot of explaining to do,” she whispers.

 

***

   Draco tries not to show how uncomfortable he is when Hermione steps into the apartment. She’s glancing at him as she whispers something to Harry who seems to flinch. Hermione turns back to Draco and gives him a tight smile, “So... Draco, you live in San Francisco?”

   “Yes, I’ve been here for a few years.”

   Hermione nods and glances behind Draco. Draco turns and rolls his eyes when he sees Hazel. He always forgets how quickly she can switch to the defensive. _It’s quite scary honestly_ he thinks to himself as he gives her a look.

   “Who is this again?” Hermione asks.

   Draco turns back to her and pulls Hazel forward by the waist, “This is Hazel. Hazel this is Hermione... we went to school together.”

   “Hi.” Hazel says putting an arm on Draco’s shoulder.

   “It’s nice to meet you,” Hermione replies, giving Hazel a tight smile. _Oh no,_ Draco thinks glancing frantically at Harry. Harry just shrugs and Draco wants to shake him, he’s so frustrated. Hermione puts an arm on Harry’s elbow and gives Draco and Hazel a polite smile, “ Can you excuse us for one second?”

   She drags Harry to the kitchen and Draco watches as she hits Harry on the shoulder and starts whispering angrily. Draco turns away to look at Hazel, trying to ignore them when he hears Hermione’s voice getting louder.

  “I don’t care what you say Harry. I can’t believe this. You’ve been hanging out with _him_ this whole time. Have you forgotten who he is?”

   He grabs Hazel’s wrist as she tenses up and tries to head towards them just as Harry starts to yell back,

   “We’re not kids anymore Hermione, people change.”

   “Have you forgotten all the fights you guys got into? All the horrible things he did?”

   “That was just as much me as it was him. I wasn’t the nicest to him either. We both did horrible things.”

  “And you seriously believe he changed? Him? _Draco Malfoy_?”

   Draco flinches and that’s when Hazel rips free from his grasp. She walks into the kitchen holding the side of her dress as her heels click behind her. Draco follows her trying to slow her down but she ignores him as she inserts herself between Harry and Hermione.

  “I’m sorry darling, I’m gonna need you to shut the fuck up.” Hazel says as Draco puts an arm on her shoulder.

  “Hazel. Hazel. It’s alright, come on,” he whispers trying to pull her away as Hermione scoffs.

   “We were in the middle of a conversation.”

   “Yeah, well now you’re not.” Hazel crosses her arms and tilts her head to the side.

   “Uh, excuse me, Harry who is this? Who do you think you are?”

   Harry just looks at Draco desperately and puts his hands up, “I- this- Hermione...”

   “I’m Draco’s best friend and if you think you can talk shit about him in front of me then you’re incredibly mistaken.”

   Hermione rolls her eyes, “Get out of my face. I was trying to talk to my friend.”

   Hazel opens her mouth again as Draco steps between them and interrupts her, “Hermione, I’ve very sorry, I know this must be a surprise. That’s why Harry didn’t say anything. He was also respecting my wishes, I didn’t really enjoy the idea of multiple people from my past knowing where to find me.”

  “Hm, I wonder why.” Hermione says flatly.

   “Hey!” Harry steps from behind Hazel, “Mione _that’s_ not okay.”

   “Draco this bitch better watch her mouth,” Hazel practically growls as Draco continues to block her view of Hermione.

  “You know what, I’m not gonna deal with this. I’m leaving.” Hermione starts walking to the door and Harry turns to call after her,

   “Hermione! Come on!”

   She turns around at the door, “When you come home tomorrow, we are having a talk about this,” she gestures towards the room before walking out and slamming the door.

   Hazel shoves Draco away and leans against the counter staring at the door as if she’s trying to light it on fire.

   Draco sighs and turns to Harry.

   “That. Was a horrible idea.”

   “Yeah that did not go well... I’m sorry.”

   Harry groans and covers his face. Draco just shakes his head, “It’s alright. That’s pretty much how I expected it to go.”

   They stand there in silence for a few moments before the door comes crashing open and Xander stumbles in with a cigarette in one hand and a box in the other.

   “I made Jell-O shots!” He yells happily as he walks in, kicking the door closed behind him. Draco glances up at him and Xander looks around at the three of them, “Damn, what the hell did I miss?”

  “Nothing,” Draco says quickly, looking at Harry and Hazel. “Come on let’s drink!”

  _God knows I need it._

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


	14. a drunken haze & fights

   Harry giggles as he tries to reach up for the bottle of vodka in Draco’s hand. He has Draco pushed up against the wall and he keeps whining for Draco to stop teasing him as Draco laughs and holds the bottle just out of reach. Draco’s cheeks are pink and his eyes are sparkly as he grins at Harry. Harry frowns and places his hands flat on Draco’s chest as he looks up at him,

  “Draco, it’s my turn. You’re hogging the bottle.”

   Draco holds the bottle higher and shakes his head,

   “No, I bought it. It’s mine.”

   Harry reaches up again, bumping Draco’s chin with his head and yelping as Xander walks by.

   “Yo D, stop flirting and come watch the movie with us.”

   Draco huffs, “I’m not flirting.”

   Xander just gives him a look gesturing to the two of them pressed up against the wall. Draco lowers his arm for a second and Harry reaches up and grabs the bottle as Draco yells,

   “Hey, give that back!”

    “Sharing is caring!” Harry calls back as he plops down on the sofa next to Hazel and takes a gulp. Hazel puts down the empty plastic cup and wipes her mouth, turning to Harry.

   “Is my tongue blue?” She asks him sticking her tongue out and trying to look at it over her nose. Harry nods and she pouts and shifts on the couch so she’s kneeling. She loses her balance and she grabs Harry’s shoulder as she points at Xander,

   “You dyed my tongue blue!”

   “My God Hazel, how many of those did you have?”

    Hazel huffs, “I lost count... but that’s not the point.”

   She pokes Harry.

   “Ow! Hazel what the fuck?”

    “Hey languageeee,” she chides.

   Harry rolls his eyes and catches her as she starts to slip to the side. Xander laughs and walks over, hopping over the couch next to Hazel.

   “Haze you are fucking hammered.”

   She scrunches her nose and shrugs, “just a little.”

   She sits back down and kicks at Xander’s leg. “Scoot over, you’re taking up all the room.”

   “And where am I supposed to sit?”

   Harry turns to see Draco standing behind the couch.

   “Sit on Harry’s lap,” Hazel says yawning. Harry’s eyes widen as Draco comes around the couch and tells him to make room. He gulps as Draco sits down on his lap. His long legs stretch to where Hazel is sitting and Harry takes another sip of vodka.

 

***

   Draco bursts out laughing and leans into Harry who is shaking with laughter.

   “Hey it’s not funny!” Xander protests throwing empty jello cups at them. Hazel is on the ground doubled over in giggles. Draco runs his fingers though Harry’s hair and nods seriously,

   “You’re right Xander. This is a serious issue. You have a serious gap in your education.”

   That sets them all off again and Draco nearly tumbles off of Harry’s lap before Harry grabs his waist. Xander just shakes his head.

   “It’s not THAT funny. I thought Australia was next to Wisconsin, so what?”

   Draco chokes on a laugh as Hazel begins wheezing.

   “You. Thought. Australia-“ she’s cut off by another fit of giggles as she falls back onto the ground. Suddenly Hazel pops back up, “grab your shoe.”

    “Huh?” Draco just stares at her bright eyes and flushed cheeks as she stares at him.

    “Your shoe!!” She yells excitedly starting to get up and falling over with a yelp onto Draco’s lap. The three of them go down into a pile of limbs as Draco falls backwards and drags Harry down with him. Hazel just lays there on top of them with her eyes closed,

   “this is actually really comfortable.”

   She screams suddenly as Xander appears and picks her up from on top of Draco. Draco rolls onto the ground panting,

   “you nearly killed me woman.”

   She laughs and throws her head back as Xander throws her over his shoulder. Draco stands up grinning and watches as Harry picks himself up.

   “You? I was on the bottom, I couldn’t breathe.”

   “Are you calling me fat?” Hazel asks from behind Xander.

   Draco rolls his eyes and pokes her leg, “of course not dear, Harry is just very weak and his body is fragile.”

   “Hey!” Harry yells wrapping an arm around Draco waist, “that’s not true.”

    “Shoe!!!”

    Xander sighs and puts Hazel down,

    “What?” He asks steadying her with one hand.

    She places both hands on his shoulders and says very seriously,

   “we need to find Draco’s shoe.”

    Xander gives Draco a look,

   “I think it’s time that Miss Hazel ‘I drank more than half my body weight’ should take a nap.”

   “No!” She shoves him and turns to Draco, dropping to her knees.

   “Whoa, Hazel darling what are you doing,” Draco asks.

    Xander bursts out laughing, “Come one Hazel, Harry’s standing right here.”

     “Hm?” Harry asks.

   “Have you not been paying attention to anything Potter?”

    “Um... no? Wait why is Hazel on the ground?”

    Draco shrieks as he suddenly falls backwards onto the couch and Hazel comes up happily holding his shoe.

    “Shoe.” She says, and Xander and Harry just stare at her. Xander nods and pats her head,

   “Yes, dear that is a ‘shoe.’”

    He enunciates the word and Harry bursts out laughing as Draco demands to know the reasoning for this assault. Harry turns to him,

   “Hazel just learned what a shoe is. She’s making great progress.”

   Xander snorts, “Yeah Draco, our baby girl is growing up so fast.”

   Hazel smacks Xander in the head with the shoe and then Harry as she pushes past them.

   “Pen.” Hazel demands standing in the middle of the room. When the three of them just stare at her she sighs and sways out of the room singing,

    “Mennnnn are all stupidddd.”

   Draco gets up to go to the kitchen and he pulls himself onto the counter leaning happily against the wall as he watches Xander and Harry talk. Everything is warm and blurred at the edges. Xander pulls out a cigarette and Draco falls off the counter.

   “Don’t. You. Fucking. Dare.” He says as he sits up to find a confused Harry and Xander staring at him.

    “Huh?” Xander asks.

    “The...” Draco forgets what a cigarette is called for a second and motions with his hand to the thing in Xander’s hand.

    Xander just groans, “D, you are killing me dude.”

    “I will kill you if you light that... thing... here.” Draco retorts getting to his feet.

    Hazel comes running back in with a pen and stops happily in the room. She grins at them as she holds the pen and the shoe.

    “Ohhhhhh,” Draco and Xander say as they realize what she means.

   “What?” Harry asks.

 Hazel just grins at him and winks.

 

***

   Harry turns over and feels something solid next to him. _The fuck is that?_ He pushes his elbow back into the solid thing and hears a voice.

   “Ow!”

   His eyes blink open in surprise and he sits up, accidentally pushing Draco off the edge of the couch. He glances at Draco who’s glaring at him from the ground.

    “Sorry?”

    “You are an absolute imbecile Potter.” Draco responds, covering a yawn with his hand.

   Harry leans over the edge of the couch so he’s nose to nose with Draco. Draco raises an eyebrow at him and Harry smiles,

   “Keep complimenting me like that and I’m gonna start blushing.”

   Draco rolls his eyes as Harry giggles and kisses Draco gently. When Harry sits back up Draco is smiling and Harry feels his heart swell. 

 

    That morning is a good one. Draco makes coffee and Xander sets the table with plates and one Advil centered on each one. Hazel puts on one of Draco’s hoodiesand a pair of his boxers and she walks around with the hood up and sits on the counter as Draco makes coffee.

    Harry watches everything contently. He feels like he belongs here. He teases Hazel for being a lightweight and she kicks him as Draco glances over and pats Hazel’s arm as she tries to object. They eat breakfast and sit around in the living room watching The Office. Draco is sandwiched between Harry who is pressed into his side and Hazel who is laying with her head in his lap. Xander sits on the floor in front of Hazel and she plays with his hair as they watch episode after episode.

   Eventually Xander has to leave and then Hazel. Draco and Harry lay on the couch some more. They kiss and Harry finally asks Draco the question he’s been dying to know.

   “Draco?”

    “Hm?” Draco murmurs against Harry’s shoulder, where he’s buried his face.

    Harry traces Draco’s hand, “Can I... Well... Okay. Why... Why San Francisco?”

    Draco lifts his head up, “What do you mean?”

    “Why here? When you left...”

    “Oh.” Draco says pulling away a little bit. After a few moments he takes a deep breath and leans back against the couch.

    “After... everything, I didn’t know where to go. I just knew I wanted to leave. So I got on that train that everyone takes to get to Hogwarts and I popped out in England... I bought a ticket for the next train and i didn’t know where I was going or where I was really. But, everyone got off at this one spot, it was the airport, I didn’t know that then. So I followed them. I figured they knew where they were going. Next thing you know I’m in a line of people and then I’m at the front and they’re telling me I need a passport. I don’t have one. I was curious because by then I realized I was somewhere that people left from. So I went to the bathroom, cast a disillusionment charm so no one would see me and walked past all the lines. I saw people giving tickets to someone at a door and I just walked right in... I sat in the back and kept my head down. I lifted the charm immediately so the people on the plane would think I was just like them... and this is where the plane landed.”

   He glances at Harry and shrugs, “it just happened.”

    “Are you glad you landed here?” Harry asks.

    “Everyday. Ya know...” Draco begins, and then stops to chuckle.

    “What?” Harry asks, moving closer to him. Draco runs a hand through his hair,

    “Hazel says it was destiny. That I happened to get on a plane to San Francisco with no idea where I was going the same night she fell asleep on a train and ended up here. We both were running away from something and we just happened to meet because I asked her for directions because I kept losing the confidence to just _ask_ and when she walked by I just thought this is my one chance.”

    Harry sits back, “That’s kind of amazing...”

   “I don’t know,” Draco shrugs, “I guess we were just in the right place at the right time.”

    “So do you believe that’s what it was?

   “Do I believe what was what?” Draco asks.

    “That it was destiny. Do you believe it was destiny?”

    “I don’t know... the idea of destiny... I’m not sure. What about you? Do you believe in destiny?”

   Harry looks at Draco’s clear blue eyes, and thinks about how he got here. One trip, an opportunity, a coffee shop he happened to notice. He grins,

   “You know, I just might.”

   Draco laughs and calls him strange but Harry just smiles and watches the way his face brightens when he laughs.

   It isn’t until Harry is getting ready to leave that they find Draco’s shoe. On it are a few new additions to the graffiti art. There’s a message from Xander,

   “Fuckkkk I can smoke wherever I want,” next to a picture of a little fire.

    Hazel has drawn a blob labeled ‘W’ next to a blob labeled ‘A’ and next to that a note that says,

    “Xander is so stupid.”

   And on the side they find one from Harry. He doesn’t even remember writing it.

   Across the side of Draco’s shoe he wrote “Harry was Here,” and a smiley face.

 

***

Harry arrives back at his hotel, unable to stop the smile that’s been on his face all day. The elevator bell dings and he walks out into the hall and to his room. When he gets there he finds Hermione waiting for him.

    “Hi....” he says, slowly shutting the door behind him. Hermione is sitting on his bed with a book and she closes it as he enters.

    “How was your night?” She asks.

   “It was good...”

    “I-“

    “No.” Harry cuts her off before she can begin talking. “No, I have something to say.”

   Hermione closes her mouth and gestures silently for him to continue. He takes a deep breath,

   “You had no right to talk about Draco like that. He invited you into his home and you treated him like absolute shit.”

    “In my defense, I was quite surprised to find out that I was in his house to begin with. Harry, Draco is... well. Draco. He was always horrible to us at school, the last thing I expected when you invited me to meet your friend was for that friend to be Malfoy.”

   Harry sighs, “Alright I know, I probably could have told you beforehand but I was worried about what you would think. I... I really like hanging out with Draco.”

   Hermione tucks her hair behind her ear and laughs, “Well that is definitely the most unexpected thing to happen in our lives.”

    Harry shrugs, “I guess.”

    “So... he’s the person you’ve been hanging out with all the time?”

    “Yes.”

    “And that girl... the one who called me a bitch-“

    “Oh, yeah that’s Hazel. Sorry about that... she’s very protective of Draco.”

   Hermione nods, “yeah I could tell. So is she the one you’re seeing then?”

    “Excuse me?”

    “Well you’re so happy all the time... Ron and I assumed you must be with someone.”

    Harry chuckles nervously, “No, um, she’s not the one I’m seeing. Well I don’t know if you would even call it that, I’m not sure I am seeing anybody... I suppose I am.”

    Hermione stares at him, “okay... so then who are you seeing?”

   “Draco.”

    Hermione laughs and falls back on his bed, “Oh that would be hilarious. Can you imagine? You and Malfoy?”

   “I’m being serious Hermione.”

   “Huh?” She sits up now and stares at him.

    “It’s Draco. I like Draco.”

    “I don’t understand... how? Were you ever planning on telling us?”

    “Yes, but I knew you would react like this so I held it off for a little bit.”

   “React like what?”

   “Come on Hermione,” Harry rolls his eyes, “You’re all upset and you don’t think I should be with him.”

   “Well, I...”

    “Am I wrong?” Harry asks. He’s getting tired of this conversation.

   Hermione huffs, “No. But, Harry you can do so much better than him.”

   “What is that supposed to mean?”

    “He’s just-“

    “Ohmygod Hermione, he’s not perfect okay? But, he’s a good person. For fucks sake, I’m finally happy for once.”

   Hermione frowns, “What do you mean ‘for once?”

   “Nevermind.”

   “No, what do you mean.”

    “I was miserable, okay? You and Ron were always coddling me. Draco makes me feel happy. He makes me happy.”

    “Ron and I were only trying to help-“

   “Well sometimes you weren’t okay?”

   “Well why didn’t you say something?” Hermione says throwing her hands up and getting off the bed.

    “I didn’t want to bother you, okay?” Harry is yelling now.

    “Why would you think you were bothering us?”

    “I can’t explain it...”

    “Oh but, Draco understands?”

    “Yes, he does actually.”

    “Harry I’m one of your best friends!”

    “Yes but that doesn’t change the fact that you cant fully understand everything I’ve gone through.”

    “Malfoy can though?”

    “You don’t know him Hermione.”

    Hermione just shakes her head and storms past him, slamming the door behind her. Harry swallows and blinks back angry tears as he stares at the ground. 

 

***

   Draco is lying in bed when the doorbell rings. He gets up confused and tired as he shuffles to the door and opens it. On the other side is a messy-haired, teary-eyed Harry. He blinks in surprise before opening the door wide and stepping forward to cradle Harry’s face.

   “What happened?” He whispers as he stares at the tear stains on Harry’s cheeks.

   “I got... into a fight with... Hermione.” Harry replies, holding back little sobs as he speaks.

   Draco’s heart breaks and he kisses Harry on the forehead before pulling him into a hug. Harry wraps his arms around Draco’s waist and holds on so tight that Draco can’t breath for a moment. Draco pulls back just enough to lead Harry inside before shutting the door behind them.

 

   Draco sits up and looks at Harry who is fast asleep on the other side of his bed.Harry had been a wreck when he arrived and Draco could tell he didn’t want to talk about anything. So they laid in bed for a while and Harry cried against Draco’s side as Draco held him. Draco wipes a few tears of his own as he stares at Harry. All he could think while they were laying there was _You should never be this sad_.

   He gets up and sets a glass of water on the bedside table next to Harry and then silently leaves, pulling on a coat as he locks the door behind him. Once he arrives at the hotel he stands in front of Ron and Hermione’s door trying to muster up the courage to knock. He knows this is their room because he’s had to sneak by it multiple times but knowing he has to see them is making him anxious. He takes a deep breath and knocks on the door. Ron opens the door and before he can say what is probably going to be,

    “What the bloody hell are You doing here,” from the look on his face,

    Draco calmly asks to speak with Hermione. Ron just stands there and Draco sighs and pats his shoulder awkwardly as he steps into the room to find Hermione sitting in the bed with her hair tied up.

    “I need to speak with you.” He says, as she focuses on him.

   “Okay.”

    “Outside please?”

    “No,” comes a voice from behind him.

   Draco turns around to find Ron blocking the door. Draco rolls his eyes and says,

    “Fine. Hermione, I don’t know what happened between you and Harry today. I know last night was not ideal and trust me I didn’t think that was the best way for you to meet me either. Either way we’re all adults here and I guess it’s obvious by now that I care about Harry and I know you guys are important to him.”

   “Okay...” Hermione says, “so why did you come here?”

   Draco looks between her and Ron for a moment and shrugs,

   “I’m not the same person as when we were kids. I’m not cruel to people just because I can be.”

    “I’m so glad you’ve turned over a new leaf,” Ron says from behind him.

   “I know you don’t like me,” Draco says as he starts backing up towards the door, “But,” he pauses and stares directly at Hermione, “Don’t you ever take that out on Harry again. I have nothing but respect for you Hermione, and I understand if you don’t feel the same. But, Harry is important to me and I don’t care who you are, I won’t let you treat him like that.”

  Draco turns and leaves before they can say anything. Back at his house he hangs up his coat and climbs back into bed. Harry is still asleep and he wraps an arm around him, hoping it will provide Harry some comfort. 

 

 

 

 


	15. no more sneaking around

   Draco raises an eyebrow at Harry.

   “I don’t want to.” Harry pouts.

   Draco rolls his eyes, “Harry they’re your best friends, you have to talk to them at some point.”

    “I know... but I don’t think that needs to be today.”

   “You said that yesterday.”

    “Well I didn’t say I was gonna do it today. I just said yesterday wasn’t the day.”

    Draco frowns. Harry has been staying with him for the past week. Draco doesn’t mind, in fact he loves having Harry at his house. But... he also knows that Harry needs to talk to his friends. He clicks his tongue and shrugs, “all right. I’ll just go talk to them myself. Maybe I’ll invite them over...”

    “Hey!”

    “Harry you can’t avoid this forever.”

    “Yeah well you can’t force me to talk to them,” he hears Harry grumble.

    “You are acting like a 5 year old, you know that right?”

    Harry just glares at the ground as Draco leans back in his chair.

    “I’m not forcing you, okay? I just think it would be good for you to talk to them and clear the air.”

    He looks back at Harry who’s staring blankly at the wall now.

    “I know, I know...,” Harry sighs and looks over at Draco,”...will you come with me?”

    “Of course.”

    Harry turns to him, “okay. Let’s go then.”

    He gets up and walks to the door as Draco remains in his seat amused.

   Harry turns around and blinks, confused, “Draco? Come on.”

   Draco shakes his head, “Uh,” he gestures to the office, “I’m at work Harry.”

    “Oh. Yeah...”

     Draco shakes his head and smirks, “You’re an idiot Potter.”

    Harry leans against the door, “I hate you,” he replies.

    “Oh do you now?”

    “Mhm.”

    Draco laughs and Harry is knocked over by Xander who pushes open the door.

    “Oh shit, sorry dude. Uh, Draco it’s your turn at the counter.”

    Draco groans as he stands and walks to the door. Xander claps him on the back as he walks out, “Good luck buddy.”

   Once out of the office, Draco turns to Harry, who followed him out.

   “Coca-cola and a cheeseburger, right?”

   “Oh, you’re still coming over then? I thought you hated me.”

    “I do,” Harry says as he wraps his arms around Draco’s waist and pulls him into a kiss.

    Draco pushes him away and smiles softly, “Stop distracting me.”

   Harry grins, “I’ll see you at 5?”

   “Yeah, maybe a little before if there’s not a lot of customers.”

   “Okay.”

   “Harry!” Draco calls out as Harry begins to leave, “after that you’re talking to them.”

   Harry frowns but, nods in agreement and then turns to walk out, the little bell ringing as he leaves.

 

***

    Harry is laying on the couch when the door opens and Draco walks in.

  “Hey!” He greets him and stands up from the couch.

   “I am exhausted,” Draco sighs running a hand through his hair.

   Harry pulls Draco towards the couch and gestures to the coffee table that has been set with plates and cups for their dinner. Draco smiles softly and kisses Harry as he murmurs a quiet “thank you.” Harry grins and pulls away for a moment, “your welcome. I wanted to do something nice. Plus I needed a distraction from missing you.”

   Draco laughs and nudges Harry’s nose with his own, “I was only gone for a few hours.”

   “I still missed you.”

   Harry pulls Draco down for another kiss and wraps his arms around Draco’s neck as Draco’s hands trail down Harry’s side gently lowering him on to the couch. They lay there kissing until Draco suddenly pulls away and shakes his head.

    “No, no. You’re gonna distract me and then we’ll never make it to see Hermione and Ron.”

   Harry pouts and tries to pull Draco back down but Draco smacks his head and pulls away.

    “OW!” Harry yelps sitting up from the couch, rubbing his head.

   “Sorry.” Draco shrugs and smiles at him.

    Harry glares at him, “no you’re not.”

   “No I’m not.” 

 **

    Draco leans against the pole watching Harry walk back and forth. He’s done this 3 times now. He starts walking towards the hotel door and then immediately turns around and walks back.

   “Nope,” Harry says as Draco watches him walk back for the fourth time now. He keeps quiet as Harry returns next to him, pouting.

   “We can come back.” He says softly, nudging Harry.

    “What? You’re the one who thought I should talk to them.”

   “I was wrong.” Draco shrugs, “you’re not ready, I shouldn’t have forced you.”

   Harry exhales dramatically next to him, “No you’re right. I do need to talk to them. God, I hate it when your right.”

   “Yes, it’s a horrible affliction I can’t control. My deepest apologies,” Draco replies.

   Harry laughs and turns to shove him.

   “Hey!” Draco laughs as he stumbles a few steps away.

    “Harry?”

    Draco stops laughing as he watches Hermione, Ron and Ginny stop a few paces away. They must be coming back from somewhere because they’re all wearing coats and Hermione and Ginny each carry a purse. Draco watches Harry stiffen and slowly turn around.

    “Hey...” he says, glancing back at Draco desperately.

   Draco clears his throat and walks forward, placing a hand on Harry’s lower back and nodding towards Ron, Hermione and Ginny.

   “Hello.” He says.

   Ron glares at him like he shouldn’t be allowed to speak and Ginny stares at Draco’s hand like she wants it to catch fire.

    “Harry, mate, what are you doing here so late?” Ron asks.

   “I, well... I thought we should talk.”

   “I agree,” Hermione says, nodding her head in agreement. “Harry, I’m very sorry for hurting your feelings. I was upset and confused.”

   Harry nods awkwardly, “I know you were... I should have told you in a better way.”

   “Harry...” Ron glances at Draco, “It’s just... I think we’re all a little confused.”

    Hermione elbows Ron and he jumps and turns to her, confused, as she glares at him.

    “Well...” Harry glances at Draco, “I bumped into Draco one of the first days here... and we became friends.”

   “Friends....?” Ginny asks.

   “Well we were friends but now... well I guess he’s my boyfriend.”

    Draco steps back in surprise.

    Before Draco can say anything, Hermione replies, “Oh. That was unexpected. Um but, Congratulations!”

  Draco thinks he hears Ron say something along the same lines but he blocks out everything except Harry.

   “Boyfriend?” He asks as he tugs Harry back to him by his waist. Harry looks up at him with red cheeks and shrugs, “If that’s alright with you.”

   Draco grins and pulls him forward, feeling dizzy with happiness. He wraps his arms around Harry and smiles against Harry’s lips before hearing someone coughing behind him.

   Confused Draco pulls away to find Ron, Hermione and Ginny staring at them. Ron is staring at the ground, Hermione looks confused and Ginny, the one who coughed, is standing there with her arms crossed.

   “Sorry,” Draco says, “it’s the first time he’s called me that.”

   He sees Hermione glance up at him but she looks away quickly.

   Harry leans against Draco’s shoulder, “Okay guys, here’s the thing.” Draco looks over in surprise at the change in his tone. Suddenly he sounds confident and calm. “I like Draco. We’re dating. And that’s it. It’s not a big deal but I shouldn’t have kept it a secret for so long. I’m sorry. He makes me happy.”

   Draco has to restrain from pushing him against the pole right then and there.

   “I’m glad you’re happy Harry,” Hermione says, “I think we will just have to get used to this.”

   “I understand.”

   “Okay come here,” Hermione says tearfully, “I missed you.”

   Harry pulls away from Draco to be wrapped up in a hug from the three of them. Hermione breaks away from the hug and comes up to him to apologize, which he accepts.

   After all that they go into the hotel. Ron, Hermione and Ginny keep glancing at Draco and he can feel it but he bites his tongue. He knows this is a weird situation. They end up in Ginny’s room, watching some tv show. Draco isn’t paying attention, he’s replaying the sound of Harry calling him “boyfriend” in his head. When it starts to get late Harry says goodnight to his friends and Draco waves and they go back to Harry’s room.

   “No more sneaking around,” Draco says as Harry unlocks the door.

   “There’s no need, you’re my boyfriend now.” Harry says.

   Draco laughs and pushes Harry into the room and up against the nearest wall, as the door shuts behind them, and Harry whispers a quick locking spell against Draco’s lips.

 

***

    Harry tugs on a shirt and walks to the bathroom, yawning. He brushes his teeth and walks out, glancing at Draco who is still curled up in bed. His chest grows warm as he watches Draco’s chest rise and fall. He lingers for a few more moments before leaving the room silently and knocking on Ron and Hermione’s door. Hermione opens the door.

   “Good morning Harry.”

   “We need to talk.”

    “Okay.”

    Harry walks in and says hello to Ron who is sitting up in bed, looking confused.

   “What do you want to talk about Harry?” Hermione asks, wrapping her arms around her torso.

   “Draco.”

   She nods uncomfortably.

    “You still don’t like him.”

   “Well. Harry, come on,” she sighs, exasperated. “You’ve been with him every day, not me. I have no idea what he’s like. I know you said he’s changed and I will admit that he isn’t the same but the only part of him I know is the part we knew at school. It’s going to take time.”

   Harry nods and closes his eyes and then sighs and slumps against the wall.

   “I think I’m falling in love with him.”

   “What?” Hermione looks like someone just told her she had the answer wrong and Ron still just looks confused.

   “Harry... are you positive?”

   “Yep.”

    “Well shit.”

   “I don’t know what I’m going to do.”

   “What do you mean? You guys are perfectly happy from what I saw.”

   “But, he may not be,” Harry gestures with his arm, “there. Yet.”

   Hermione walks forward and wraps her arms around him. “Is that why you came over here?”

    “Part of it. I don’t want you guys to hate the guy I’m falling in love with. And.. also I needed to tell someone.”

   “We don’t hate him Harry, we just... have some not so friendly memories of him.”

   “I understand.”

   “That doesn’t matter though, he makes you happy. So come on. Tell me all about him. I could tell you were just waiting to start gushing about him like a schoolgirl the moment you said his name.”

**

   Harry returns to his room to find Draco on the phone.

   “Yes, Xander. I’ll be there in two hours. No I won’t buy you a pack of cigarettes.”

   Draco glances up as Harry enters and holds a finger up as if to say “give me a minute.”

   Harry mouths take your time and smiles as he hears Draco sigh, “No Xander I am not stealing cigarettes for you, the problem I had with that question was not the buying part.”

   Harry watches Draco with a smile and feels his stomach flip:  _Yep I’m definitely falling for him. Shit._


	16. we need to talk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait!!! I hope you guys enjoy xxx

“Shit sorry!”

 “Nope it’s okay.”

  “I’m sorry... does it hurt?”

  “Seriously, Xander? Does it hurt?”

  “What? I’m asking.”

  “Of course it hurts you idiot you weren’t supposed to throw the bag that hard.”

  “Excuse me, I’m still injured down here.”

   “Oh shit, sorry Draco.” Hazel scurries over to where Draco is laying on the ground.

   They had been throwing around a bag of coffee beans to pass the time when Xander hurled it a little too hard and while trying to move out of the way, Draco had fallen over a chair and landed on his back. Hazel helps Draco up as he rubs the back of his head.

   “Is your head okay?” Hazel asks, pushing Draco’s hand aside to examine him herself.

   “Yeah I’m fine,” Draco says grabbing onto Hazel’s shoulder and trying to stand back up.

   “Fuck!” Hazel squeaks as she stumbles under Draco’s weight.

   “What the bloody hell is going on in here?”

    After Draco has managed to topple Hazel over,  they glance over at the door. Hazel is sprawled on top of Draco and Xander is standing silently in the corner laughing. Hazel glares at Xander before responding to Harry.

   “Draco fell over a chair.”

   Harry stares at the two of them silently and then shakes his head as he turns back towards the door.

   “Come on in guys,” he calls. A few seconds later Hermione, Ron and Ginny are standing in the café watching Hazel and Draco shout at each other in a tangled mess on the ground and Xander who has decided to light a cigarette as he waits for his friends to stop being idiots.

   “So this is Draco’s café,” Harry says, shrugging when his friends look over at him for an explanation.

  “Xander I SWEAR TO GOD IF YOU ARE SMOKING IN HERE!” Hazel screams and manages to untangle herself from Draco, pushing herself up and running to pull the cigarette out of Xander’s mouth. Xander rolls his eyes and hands her his lighter. Her eyes are blazing as she goes off about Kyla and second-hand smoke.

   “Kyla’s asleep in the office,” Xander murmurs but he steps back when Hazel whips around to glare at him.

   “There’s... a baby here?” Hermione asks Harry.

   Harry presses a finger to his head and nods, “yep,” before walking over to Draco and lifting him off the ground.

   “What the hell Draco, are you okay?”

   Draco rolls his eyes, “I’m fine, I just have friends who LOVE TO ABUSE ME!”

   Hazel walks over and smacks the side of his head in response and Xander chuckles. Harry steps between them gently sliding a hand around Draco’s waist, and turning around to face his friends.

   Hermione shifts awkwardly, Ron squints at the ceiling and Ginny looks bored.

   “Well, Xander and Hazel these are my friends: Hermione, Ron and Ginny.”

   They wave awkwardly as Xander nods at them and Hazel gives a small wave, eyes lingering briefly on Hermione in a way that makes Hermione cough and look away.

   Harry continues, “... and the idiot here is my lovely boyfriend that you all know.”

   Draco gives a quiet greeting, subconsciously leaning into Harry’s touch for assurance. Harry looks over at Draco concerned; he knows Draco is worried about how this will go. He’s distracted by Hazel’s voice and he turns to listen to her, “So, this is Draco and I’s café.” She gestures to the room and sticks her hands in the pockets of her overalls.

   “It’s nice.” Hermione says, looking around. Hazel tenses at the sound of her voice but softens when she hears the words. “Yeah, Draco and I are really proud of it.”

   “EHEM.”

   Hazel continues, ignoring Xander, “we make coffee and small pastries...”

    “EheM.”

    “Um is he okay?” Ron asks looking worriedly at Xander.

   “Hm? Oh him? He’s fine, just ignore him.” Hazel squeals as Xander walks forward and swings her over his shoulder. Harry laughs as Hazel starts kicking Xander and watches as Draco leaves his side to pull her down. He glances over at his friends to find Ron and Hermione holding hands and looking around the café. Hermione is smiling and Ron is glancing at Draco and his friends with an amused smile. Harry grins. This isn’t going to bad. He jumps as he hears Ginny’s voice from behind him.

   “I’m gonna leave,” she says.

   “Wait, Ginny, why?”

   “Seriously Harry? You think I want to watch you with somebody else, let alone Draco Malfoy?”

   Harry stares at her silently, aware that all eyes have turned to them.

   “I-“

   “-Well I don’t want to.” She turns around and storms out, and Harry turns back around to face everyone. Draco has managed to get Hazel down and everyone is standing around silently. Hermione whispers something to Ron who breaks the silence, “Sorry Harry, I think Gin is having a hard time with the idea of you with someone else.”

   “She’ll get over it,” Hermione jumps in quickly, and Ron nods vigorously in agreement. Just then a cry starts to come from the office and Hazel sprints quickly to the door yelling a quick, “SORRYTHATSMYBABY,” as she races out of the room.

   Harry meets Draco’s eyes who is turning away from Hazel with an amused look that quickly fades when he sees Harry’s face. He walks over casually and laces their fingers together.

   “That’s why you don’t stay friends with you ex” he whispers in Harry’s ear.

   Harry rolls his eyes and shoves him back with a laugh. “You know how much the Weasley’s mean to me,” he replies.

   “I do. I’m just saying,” Draco looks over with a cheeky grin, “they’re gonna have to get used to seeing my pretty face around.”

   Harry shakes his head as he laughs and inside his heart flutters. “ _They’re_ _gonna have to get used to my pretty face,”_ echoes in his ears. He sure hopes they do, he knows he wants to see Draco for a long time to come.

 

***

 

   Back at Draco’s flat, Draco and Harry sit on the couch exhausted. The day had gone alright. Hazel still wasn’t over the things Hermione said to Draco the first time they met and she had been cold and short the few times Hermione tried to talk to her. Xander left for a cigarette and came back yelling at a man passing by, which had made Ron and Hermione inch away from him slowly.

   It had been horribly awkward and uncomfortable but nobody had yelled at each other which was a step forward.

   Draco had made coffee for Ron and Hermione and they had enjoyed it and swore to come back for more. Their was only one awkward moment when Ron had asked Draco what had made him move to San Francisco. Harry had glared at him and Draco had answered cooly, saying it was a long story. Then Ron had said he would like to hear the story at which point Draco had replied with “No.” Apparently unaware of the fact that Harry was burning holes into his head trying to will him to shut up, Ron had asked why, to which Xander had replied, “Because he said no. Do you have a problem with that?” Ron quickly backed down after that and Hermione had buried her face in her palms after whispering “sorry” to Harry.

   Other than that things had gone okay but now the two men were exhausted. They hadn’t spoken since they arrived back and Draco was staring at the ceiling, his eyes closing every now and then.

   Draco glances over at Harry who’s fallen asleep on the couch and he ponders whether or not he should wake him. He decides not to, but he needs some fresh air so he decides to take a walk. The air is cold and he buries his hands into his jacket pockets, looking around at the street. The leaves are turning colors and it reminds Draco that he only has a month with Harry left. His heart clenches at the thought, he doesn’t want to think about the inevitable right now.

   He walks until he finds a bench and then he sits down staring at the street absently. There are no cars on the road and he frowns as he looks up and down the empty street feeling alone. _You might as well get used to it,_ his mind whispers. He tries to shake the thought away but it won’t leave. Harry is leaving and he knows they need to talk about it. They’ve both been avoiding the subject at all costs. _Tonight_ , Draco thinks. _I’ll ask him about it tonight._

   With a plan in mind he stands up and walks back to his apartment. He takes his time, trying to think of how to bring up the subject but nothing seems right and then suddenly he’s at his door. He takes a deep breath and opens it to find a sleepy Harry blinking at him from the couch.

   “Sorry for waking you,” he says softly, closing the door.

   “It’s alright, we should probably head to bed anyways,” Harry replies with a yawn. He runs a hand through his hair and rearranges his glasses, “Where were you?”

   “I just felt like going on a walk.”

   Harry nods and stands up, stretching. He walks over to Draco with a grin and snuggles close to Draco, wrapping his arms around his waist and kissing his neck softly. Harry begins to lead Draco towards the bedroom and Draco knows they need to talk. He knows they’re running out of time. But, he can’t pull away from the soft touch of Harry’s lips and his warm arms.

_Tomorrow_ , he thinks. _I’ll_ _ask_ _tomorrow._

_***_

_“_ Draco. It’s been a week, you need to talk to him.”

   “I know.”

   “So, are you going to?”

    Draco shifts uncomfortably under Hazel’s stare.

   The door opens and Draco breaths a sigh of relief when Xander walks in.

   “What’s goin on?” Xander asks, petting Kyla on the head before plopping down in the desk chair.

    “Draco won’t talk to Harry about their relationship and what will happen when Harry leaves.”

   “Oh shit, it’s getting close, isn’t it?”

    “Yes, Xander thank you for the kind reminder.”

   “I’m just saying man, you’re running out of time.”

    “I know!” Draco shouts, causing Kyla to burst into tears.

    “Shit, I’m sorry,” he whispers as Hazel glares at him, rocking Kyla and trying to calm her down.

   Draco leaves the office with Xander behind him, who grabs his arm as he tries to walk towards the counter.

   “D, I know you don’t want to hear this but you really do need to talk to him. I’ve seen the way you look at him, you love him. So grow a dick and talk to him.”

   The bell rings as if on cue and in walks Harry. Xander shoots Draco a look and Draco sighs.

   “I know.” He whispers miserably. Xander pats him on the back, “Good luck.”

   Draco forces a smile as he walks to Harry.

   “Hey,” Harry greets him pushing up to kiss him hello.

   Draco pulls away and looks to the side.

   “What’s wrong?” Harry asks.

    “We need to talk,” Draco says, “come on let’s go outside.”

    Once outside they sit on a bench and Draco avoids all eye contact with Harry who is staring at him nervously.

    “Draco tell me what’s wrong.”

    “Harry, well...”

    “Yes?”

   “Okay, you know I care about you.. a lot,” Draco winces as he catches himself from saying “I love you.”

    “Okay....”

    “Okay I’m just gonna say it. You’re leaving.”

   Harry exhales slowly, “oh.” “yeah...”

   Draco looks down at his hands.

   “Okay, so I’m leaving...” Harry trails off as he looks away from Draco.

    “And?”

   “And what?”

   Draco huffs angrily, “really? ‘What?’ What’s going to happen to us.”

   “I’m not sure Draco, I mean, you can come to England with us... Yes!” Harry turns to Draco eagerly, “come with me!”

   Draco searches Harry face, “you can’t be serious.”

   “Why wouldn’t I be?”

   “Go back to England? Harry my whole life has been trying to get away from there. My whole life is here, you can’t expect me to just leave.”

    “Why not? I thought you cared about me?”

    “I do! God, Harry I’m in fucking love with you goddamnit but I can’t leave everything behind for you!”

    Harry looks like he’s been slapped. “Okay then, I don’t know what to tell you.”

   Draco grunts in shock, “I just told you I love you and you don’t know what to say? Bloody perfect.”

    “You also said you don’t want to come with me.”

   “You’re hung up on that? Really? I tell you I love you and you’re angry I don’t want to follow you home to England? Let me ask you something, would you stay here for me?”

    “Draco.. my whole life is in England...”

   “Exactly you fucking dick. And my whole life is here. So don’t ask me to do something for you that you wouldn’t be willing to do for me.” Draco stands up furious and turns to walk back into the café.

    He hears Harry stand up and something inside him snaps, “No. Don’t you dare follow me right now.”

   Draco doesn’t turn to see Harry’s face, he just walks inside, heading straight to the office when he sees Xander try to motion him over.

   Draco walks into the office and ignores Hazels questions as he falls against the door and breaks down.

_Fuck this._

 


	17. harry gets drunk

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sososososo sorry for the long wait - i got so incredibly busy and i got a bit of writer's block but I'm back now. hope you like this new chapter :)

  Harry sits on a bench all night. Draco’s words ring in his ears and he wants to smash something into pieces because it's not fair. He wants to scream in the middle of a crowded intersection or breakdown in a fit of sobs. Every cell in his body is screaming for somebody to come and help him, to get the universe to notice this fucking mess he is in. But all he can do is sit. He doesn’t remember what time it is when he gets up. All he knows is its late and dark and he has two missed calls. One from Ron and one from Hermione. He ends up in front of Draco’s cafe and he stands there; remembering that first day. How he had just wanted a cup of coffee, and Draco was sitting behind the counter so casually. How he had snapped, but came back. And then came back again and again until he wanted to live inside of this place to be near Draco. But then they became friends and started dating and he didn’t need the cafe. Draco was his on the sidewalk, in their bed, in restaurants and his hotel room. He didn’t expect this. God, the last thing he ever expected was to fall in love with Draco Malfoy. He shivers in the cold and turns around. He goes back to his hotel room and he can feel himself falling apart. He knocks on Ron and Hermione’s door and a few seconds later the door opens and Ron slips out.

“Harry? What are you… You look like absolute shit.”

“Thanks Ron.”

Ron coughs, “Sorry mate, whats wrong?”

“I think I fucked everything up.”

Ron looks confused and glances back into the room and then back to Harry. Harry rolls his eyes and sighs, “With Draco. I screwed things up with him… I need advice.” He kicks at the ground, feeling his eyes well up with tears. The sound of the door clicking makes him glance up as Ron steps out into the hall and wraps Harry into a hug.

“Come on, we should talk in your room, I don’t want to wake up Hermione.” 

***

 

   Harry stares at Ron worriedly as he waits for a reply. He just finished recounting the days events to him and Ron hasn’t said anything. Ron rubs his face and sighs, “I mean… Harry you clearly love Draco. As weird as that is for me to say.”

 

“Yeah I know I love him but what do I do? I can’t leave him but I don’t live here and we leave so soon.” Harry groans and flops onto the ground.

 

 “To be honest Harry… I’m not sure what you should do either. I mean, obviously you have to come back to England..”

 

“But, that’s the thing, I don’t need to.”

 

“What?”

 

Harry shrugs, “What if I found a place here…”

 

“You want to stay here?”

 

“I don’t know Ron I like it here… and Draco is here.”

 

Ron shakes his head in disbelief, “I need a drink. If you want to talk about the idea of you staying here in San Francisco; I need a drink.”

 

“Me too.” 

 

   Three hours later and Ron and Harry are plastered.

 

“This is bullshitttttt Ron. Why? I just want to know why.” Harry gets up and walks around the room, pouting.

 

“Why what?” Ron asks from the ground.

 

“Why NOW. Why did I have to fall in love with Draco NOW.” He turns abruptly to stand over where Ron is laying, “I could have fallen in love with ANYONE and it had to be him, in a completely DIFFERENT COUNTRY. Who the hell made that BULLSHIT decision.”

 

Ron giggles from the ground, “I still can’t get over the fact that it’s MALFOY. I mean we knew him for years and you could have fallen in love with him any time while we were at Hogwarts.”

 

“You totally get it,” Harry says as he plops down on the floor.

 

There’s a knock on the door suddenly and Harry stumbles back up to open it, and finds Hermione on the other side.

 

“Ron, OhmygoD Ron, she knows.”

 

“Hm?” Ron says as he rolls onto his belly.

 

Hermione steps in and closes the door behind her, briefly glancing at her significant other on the ground.

 

“Hermione why do I love Draco?”

 

Hermione looks taken aback as she glances from Harry to Ron.

 

“Uh, Harry, well… I don’t know? Love is just… well it just.. happens.”

 

“WELL SAID BABE!” Ron shouts from the corner of the room.

 

“Oh God Ronald,” Hermione sighs and walks over to him as he smiles adoringly up at her. When she turns back to Harry, he is sitting on the floor with his phone.

“Harry what are you doing?”

 

“imgooglingit.”

 

“What?” Hermione steps forward to peer over Harry’s shoulder. In the search bar he has written, “why did i faoll in love noW??//“

 

“Oh Harry,” Hermione shakes her head sadly before becoming distracted by Ron yawning. “You two need to get some sleep,” she says just as Harry lets out a shout.

 

“Mione found it, look.” Hermione sighs as she looks over Harry’s shoulder.

 

“Harry is that… pinterest?”

 

“midontknow, just found it.”

 

She reads the text and lets out a breath after. “Wow, that is… beautiful really.”

 

“Is that the answer?” Harry turns to her forlornly. She looks down hopelessly at him, “I… Well yeah. I guess it is.”

 

“I need go to Draco.” Harry stumbles up from the floor and Hermione rushes to him, “Nonononono, right now you need to sleep.”

 

“Mkayyy.” Harry steps away towards the bed and Hermione sighs in relief before hearing a crack and turning around sharply.

 

Harry’s gone. 

 

***

 

Draco jumps as someone starts pounding at his door. Cautiously he walks towards it and looks out the peephole to see Harry, looking like an absolute wreck. Taking a deep breath he opens the door and quickly steps aside as Harry comes stumbling in.

 

“Are you… drunk?” Draco asks as Harry blinks at the ceiling. Harry shakes his head no but Draco can smell the alcohol a mile away. “Harry…”

 

“No! Draco I know why.”

 

Draco looks at Harry confused, “What… do you know.”

 

“I know why I fell in love with you.”

 

“Okay….?”

 

“Well obviously there are a bunch of reasons. I mean you’re attractive as hell, you’re funny and nice and and you make good coffee and you’re easy to talk to and you get me, you get me Draco, and you sing as you drive and just everything but, I found the reason.”

 

Draco feels himself blushing and he thanks God that Harry is too drunk to notice how his words are affecting him. Then Harry shoves his phone into Draco’s hands and says “look.” Draco looks down and then glances back up at Harry.  “Harry this is pinterest, are you aware of th-" Harry shushes him frustratedly and Draco holds back a smile as he turns back to the phone. Better to go along with Harry’s drunk antics. He reads the words on the screen,

 

 

**“Love is a spark of light, a dazzling blaze of flame like accidents which happen in the untempered heat we feel.”**

 

 

   Draco glances up at Harry confused. Harry looks like he just solved the answer to world peace.

 

“I don’t… Harry I don’t quite understand.”

 

“I love you because we were a mistake.”

 

“Excuse me?”

 

“Nono I,” Harry puts his hand to his head, “We met … again, and we crashed together.” Draco raises an eyebrow as Harry mimes two cars crashing with his hands.

 

“Okay….”

 

“We, well I literally shoved you but when I shoved you it sparked something, and _that’s_ why.”

 

“Harry I think you deeply misunderstood this quote.”

 

Harry huffs, “I’m trying to- we met on accident and…. neither of us saw it coming.”

 

“Well that’s true.” Draco can’t argue with that, he certainly never planned to fall in love with Harry.

 

   “Or it was fate.”

 

Draco turns around and groans, he forgot Hazel had come over.

 

“Really Hazel?” Draco glares at her as he begins to guide an increasingly exhausted looking Harry to the couch.

 

 

 “What?” Hazel asks as Draco helps Harry lie down.

  

 

    ** _“Don’t you believe in fate?"_**


	18. give me a reason to breathe

“I’m just saying, don’t rule it out…"

 

Draco groans as he tries to tune out Hazel and another one of her “ _the universe has a plan_ ” lectures. Instead he focuses on Harry who has passed out on his couch and what in the world he’s going to do about this situation.

 

He jumps as Hazel puts a hand on his shoulder and leans in to hug him.

 

“What are you doing?” 

 

“Draco, I just told you I had to leave. Were you ignoring me that whole time?” 

 

“…No…” 

 

“Really Draco? I can tell when your lying, anyways, I have to go but seriously. _This_ ", she gestures between Harry and Draco, "is not just a coincidence. Maybe you don’t believe in the universe and fate but something, somewhere planned this.” 

 

Hazel leaves and Draco stares at Harry and can’t help but agree with Hazel.

 

I mean _seriously_ , Draco Malfoy and Harry Potter? Even Draco finds it hard to believe sometimes. The chance of Harry finding his cafe out of millions of cafes in the city out of millions of cities from millions of states. Draco’s head spins a bit just thinking about all the what ifs. What if he hadn’t worked that day? What if Harry hadn’t come back? What if he never walked in?

 

Draco sighs and leans back, closing his eyes. If the universe had planned this it must have been a fucking exhausting job. Everything having to line up just right. 

 

 

_If fate is real_ , Draco thinks, _they’ve got the hardest job in the whole entire fucking world._

 

*** 

 

Harry’s head hurts and he’s… what? He’s in Draco’s apartment… but how… when? He sits up - to quickly- and feels his stomach roll. He runs to the bathroom and just manages to make it before throwing up into the toilet. While he sits on the bathroom floor, sweat on his forehead, he has a second to note that Draco wasn’t with him. He wasn’t in Draco’s bed. Which means he came here unexpectedly. 

 

_Godfuckingdamnit. What did he do?_

 

He groans and walks back to the couch looking for evidence of a fight; a thrown shoe or something. His pounding head can't focus though so he retires to shoving his head back into a pillow and trying desperately to remember what happened the night before but all he can remember is bits and pieces of Ron’s voice and the taste of alcohol. He remembers Ron being surprised… or was he angry? He said something about Harry not seriously thinking about doing something… Was he talking about going to see Draco? 

 

_Draco._

 

_Oh._ Harry sits up suddenly as he remembers. He decided he would stay here for Draco. He could stay in San Francisco. 

 

Wait, if he told Draco that… then why is he on the couch? Did.. did Draco shut him down? 

 

Harry’s head starts to spin and he feels nauseous again, and he can’t tell if it's the idea of losing Draco or because he drank so much. He’s curled up in a ball with his eyes squeezed shut breathing in and out when he hears his name. He looks up to see Draco standing at the end of the couch. Draco is still in his pajamas. He’s wearing boxers and a plain black t-shirt and Harry forgets how to breathe for a second. 

 

“Harry, are you okay? I’ll get you water, you were pretty drunk last night.”

 

Draco looks tired and the strange bland courtesy that he throws at Harry makes Harry all the more sure that last night he must have rejected him...

 

and then he throws up on Draco’s couch. 

 

***

 

“Harry there’s a reason we have magic. You really don’t have to clean that.”

 

Draco watches as Harry scrubs at his couch firmly with his mouth set in a firm line. Harry hasn’t looked up at Draco once. Considering he felt the need to knock down Draco’s door and tell him their names had been written in the stars he finds this annoying. First they fight, then Harry gets drunk, professes his love to Draco and now he won’t even look up. 

 

_No_. Draco knows well enough that he deserves more than some "up and down unable to express their feelings except when they’re drunk" man.

 

He tries again. 

 

“Harry?”

 

Nothing. Alright then. 

 

Draco takes out his wand and cleans up the mess with a mumble of words and then waits. 

 

 

“Why did you do that, I was cleaning it?”

 

 

“Oh so now you’re speaking to me?” 

 

 

Harry looks away again and stands up. He starts to walk to the door but Draco pushes his way in front of him and shoves him backwards.

 

 

    “Are you fucking kidding me?”

 

 

   “Draco what the fuck? Let me leave.”

 

 

“If you wanted to leave so badly then why did you come _back_?”

 

 

Draco shoves him harder and Harry looks up at him in shock. 

 

 

“Draco-“

 

 

“No. You told me you couldn’t make the sacrifice of staying here for me and then you left me. And it was fine. I was fine, it was over and I was fine but it was okay because I knew I shouldn’t have expected more and then you bust down my door talking about love and you just- you confuse the living shit out of me. Telling me we’re meant to be and you love me and then you wake up and act like I’m not here. You can’t do that to people. You can’t break them and then show up like a knight in shining armor because you have a fucking saviors complex and then say things you don’t mean.” 

 

 

 

Harry looks stunned and Draco is exhausted from yelling and his heart is tired from all this fighting. He loves Harry but he can’t go back to England. 

 

“Harry… I know it’s not completely your fault. If I could just get over it and go back to England with you… but I can’t. I have no family there. My family is here, my job is here. It took me years but I am finally content with where I am in life right now and I am content here. You can’t leave England because you’re family is there. We’re at a crossroads and no one is going to budge. I love you and I don’t want to fight anymore. So let’s just end it okay? We can break up and go our separate ways.” 

 

Draco looks up from where he had been tightening his fist around the hem of his shirt to see Harry staring at him like he just grew another head. 

 

“Or…”

 

“No.”

 

“Excuse me?”

 

“Draco shut UP and let me think.”

 

Draco closes his mouth and balks at Harry who is just… staring at him.

 

“Har-“

 

Harry is pacing now and suddenly turns and looks at Draco. He looks so intense and serious, Draco tries to take a step back but he hits the back of the door. 

 

“Draco I want to stay here.”

 

Draco blinks. 

 

“I didn’t tell you that last night? I was very drunk but I could have sworn that’s the reason I came here…” Harry is rubbing his head now and staring at the ceiling. “I was at Ron’s and I told him I wanted to stay here and, well he wasn’t ecstatic,” he waves a hand like this is all common knowledge, “and then I came here to tell you.” 

 

Draco blinks again and stares at Harry. _This… no…_

 

 

Harry walks to Draco and stands toe to toe to him. He tilts his head up, 

 

“Did I really not tell you? You didn’t know?”

 

 

Draco stares down at Harry in disbelief. Harry can’t be serious… 

 

 

“Harry are you joking? You came into my house last night blubbering about true love. And then you passed out on my sofa.”

 

 

Harry blushes, “So I didn’t mention that I was staying? And that I’m sorry? And that I love you?”

 

 

 

Draco shakes his head, “No, you were so busy talking about sparks that you must have conveniently left that out.” 

 

 

 

If Harry didn’t know Draco he might say he was being cold. Rude. But Harry saw that glint appear in Draco’s eye when he’s being sarcastic in the good-natured way, like when he tells Harry to move aside but the little glint tells him to move closer. 

 

 

So Harry moves closer until they’re standing nose to nose and he’s staring right into Draco’s eyes. 

 

“Well, then will you accept an overdue apology for being a complete idiot?” 

 

Their lips brush slightly as Harry speaks.

 

“I might just think about it.” 

 

 

There’s that glint again. 

 

 

“Did I mention I love you Draco? And that I plan on moving every last piece of myself to San Francisco for you?” 

 

“I think I heard you say something like that once or twice.”

 

“Well I love you-“

 

Harry gasps as Draco suddenly closes the gap and presses their mouths together desperately. Draco turns and presses Harry up against the wall and he moves his mouth down to suck at Harry’s neck. He licks his way up Harry’s neck and stops by his ear.

 

 

“I love you too.” 

 

 

And Harry grabs his face and pulls him back into a kiss because even though he will have to break away eventually to catch a breath of air, and he knows you can’t properly breathe while your tongue is inside someone else's mouth- he needs to kiss Draco to remind his lungs that they want air. 

 


End file.
